Artists' Discovery Thread [Share ideas and techniques here]

Tzu

Tzu

Site Contributor

Join Date: Mar 2008

UK/norway

Order Of The Etherbloom Crown [ZEN]

oh, random note, I made an avatar out of your freebie, Nian! <3
I couldn't fit the chinchilla within the 100x100 box without angering him (Q.Q) so I drew his neck away (you should still be able to see where he used to be XD I'm so sloppy)!

I often use reference images if I'm uncertain about the anatomy for a particular pose. Sometimes I look through a magazine or read a comic and find a *perfect* idea for a pose, and then I'll use that as a ref.
If you're really uneasy, you could start out tracing. You'll learn a lot more if you work freehand though. Things come together in your head and make a lot more sense, and you'll remember how certain things work the next time you draw a similar pose/figure.

Duranin

Duranin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Feb 2007

East Coast

none

Me/

@Blue - WALLOFTEXT /faint
... back on topic, I'll be honest I don't really welcome CnC. I usually know most of the flaws in my art and having it repeated back at me tends to put me on the defensive. Why, then, don't I fix it before uploading my art? Because I can't. Not yet. First comes recognizing the problem, then comes learning better ways to deal with it. Also a lot of my problems (especially anatomical ones) I don't really fully recognize until I've completed the whole picture and sit back and look at it. By that time I cbf to go back and fix it because of how much additional revising it would take. I just keep it there as a reference for the future. I try to comfort myself by saying that I'm not drawing seriously, yes, but when I try to improve I take it in little steps. I find an artist who is slightly better than me and try to figure out what it is that they do that makes their art look better. I don't immediately set my sights on the high-end artists, because all that does is demoralize me and make my progress go backwards. My psychology is kind of weird.

@Espadon - I'm definitely a wrist person. I can't draw or paint large curves to save my life.. it's also one of the reasons all my art comes out so tiny and rarely over 900 pixels in either direction. Believe it or not all my art is the original size, I don't scale down at the end.

Tzu

Tzu

Site Contributor

Join Date: Mar 2008

UK/norway

Order Of The Etherbloom Crown [ZEN]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Araiia of the Songs
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@Blue - WALLOFTEXT /faint
... back on topic, I'll be honest I don't really welcome CnC. I usually know most of the flaws in my art and having it repeated back at me tends to put me on the defensive. Why, then, don't I fix it before uploading my art? Because I can't. Not yet. First comes recognizing the problem, then comes learning better ways to deal with it. Also a lot of my problems (especially anatomical ones) I don't really fully recognize until I've completed the whole picture and sit back and look at it. By that time I cbf to go back and fix it because of how much additional revising it would take. I just keep it there as a reference for the future. I try to comfort myself by saying that I'm not drawing seriously, yes, but when I try to improve I take it in little steps. I find an artist who is slightly better than me and try to figure out what it is that they do that makes their art look better. I don't immediately set my sights on the high-end artists, because all that does is demoralize me and make my progress go backwards. My psychology is kind of weird. that doesn't sound too weird at all! ^^
I'm like that IF I DONT ask for CC but get it anyway. If I take the initiative and ask for it however, I find it much easier to take in and truly appreciate.
One of the reasons why I don't like dA is that it is, to me, a strange mix of a place to dump your art, and a place to receive crit. Recently they've developed the option of asking for and receiving critiques, before it was pretty much random whether you got a "OMG KAWAII SUGOI" (quoting blue here I believe) comment or a "the leg looks wonky" comment. Also, there are a lot of trolls on dA, people who just throw crap at you and don't seem to appreciate you efforts at all. Sometimes their crits are completely off, too.
Coming from that community, I grew a slightly-too-thick hide against CC, cus you really can't trust the dA audience. It's only just recently that I've started to truly absorb CC whenever I get it, work with what I have and strive towards what I need.

You could always msn me if you want some friendly crit, perhaps best if you ask for crit on unfinished work or sketches, and just leave commissions out of the picture. That way your queue can move along as it usually does, not stopping to see you rework a piece, and you don't have to worry about pride or anything like that ~ sketches are sketches, after all.

EDIT: I just have to say, I think it's really good that you're honest regarding how you feel about critiques. I admire how you always seem to speak your mind, no matter what! ^^

Widowmaker

Widowmaker

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2008

N/

I always felt dA was more of a place to make that step and show your work to a wider audience than anything else, and it can be a nice place to gain some inspiration from some of the talented folks who do post there.

*Slinks off again*

UraLoo

UraLoo

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2009

Melbourne, Australia

N/Mo

I think it's just plain rude to throw critiques at a finished piece of artwork if the artist hasn't asked for it (especially in a hobby forum), developing work I personally don't have a problem, although I wouldn't do it myself unless asked.

I'm still calling myself a hobby artist for sure. I'm a long way away from the professional art world, but it's never wavered my passion. I spend all day looking at the world around me thinking how I can put it all onto canvas. I get 100 new images to look at in my inbox everyday, some better than others, but all equally worthy of the word "art". I'm actually truly shocked by the amount of high-end formal education here (God, don't take that the wrong way). I flunked high-school so I've always admired those people.

I don't know what I want out of this life. At the moment I'm shooting towards tattooing (working on fruit and such) but I have very unstable thoughts on how long it's going to hold my interests and on the other hand I feel I'm going to let a lot of people down if I don't at least try. Shit, that's all very off topic. My bad.

---

As for the tablet thing, I'm truly the wrong person to give advice for sure. I've only ever had my Intuos 2 which was a birthday present over 5 years ago. These things last a very, very long time. I used to take mine to school everyday. It's been dropped, had things spilled on it and who knows what else. I don't know about Wacom's later models though, but I can't imagine they'd be much different.

Anyway, I want to ask a question.

As an artist what is your own personal greatest hurdle and how do you overcome it?

Mine is my self esteem issues. Mostly about my own self worth and overall confidence. To overcome it I force myself into situations that I can't get out of easily. Say, for instance... a Guild Wars commission thread. This is less a pursuit of virtual wealth and more an exercise for gaining self-confidence. Wasn't aware the welcome would be so enthusiastic though.

BlueXIV

BlueXIV

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

CA

N/

Mine is motivation for sure. I am extremely lazy, and posting here with a commission thread helps me get going.

and about CnC, I'm not saying everyone has to be an "AWESOME ARTIST," but since this is a part of the internet, I kind of expect people to have a pretty thick skin. Nolani is actually incredibly nice and sheltered when compared to even the rest of gwgurus. There are some flamers of course, but I genuinely believe 99% of the average posters here are nice people.

They are generally nice, and if there is one comment sandwiched between them telling you how your art can improve, I'd just take that as being helpful and thank them. Of course there _are_ always people who throw useless comments at your whether you like them or not. Not naming any names, but I think we've all seen some of that here.

I'll probably start doing CnC only if people explicitly say they then. I guess doing CnC in commission threads is a bit disrespectful? :\. I'll keep it to PMs (and MSN, tzu) then. You're all welcome to come into my thread and rip my paintings apart tho D:

@Uraloo, o_O I didn't know that XD. I almost always only CnC finished works because I find that the most helpful. When it's just developing, I know there are faults, and I try to fix them. If it's still there in the finished piece, it means I didn't notice, which is when I need someone to point it out for me :\
Personal preference ya?

@Widowmaker, I've said a lot of bad things about dA, but really, it's exactly what you described it as. Most of the posters are casual users (or trolls) though, so you just gotta take comments with a grain of salt. Very easy there to either despair that no one likes you, or get a humongous ego from lots of favorites.

edit:
@Verene, you might want to try drawing from life if it's possible at all. Photos tend to be kinda (really) distorted, so sometimes learning proportions isn't that great with it. There is this great ebook that pretty much everyone recommends on CA.org... it's free too, lemme search it up...

http://www.placidchaos.com/Loomis/An...;s%20Worth.pdf

It's a GREAT resource, bit dated as you can tell from the hair styles :P, but everything still applies (we haven't mutated that much yet).

Anyways, I'd just say drawdrawdraw, I know I'm bad with anatomy, so I do it a lot. Hopefully by winter, I'll have a handle on how to draw people

Espadon

Espadon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

USA [GMT -5]

State of the Nolani [gusy]

A/

I think for me it was learning to let go and to destroy and restart. It's oftentimes really hard to destroy stuff that one has worked a long time on, even if it doesn't fit in well. I ended up specifically destroying stuff that I've worked hard on just to get used to letting go and came up with a credo to keep myself going -- "To create you must be able to destroy" -- and as I went I had a progressively easier time obliterating as the constant practice also made it easier to [re]create.

BlueXIV

BlueXIV

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

CA

N/

haha, I'm pretty much the opposite... I had to control the urge to scrap my painting and restart it. I've scrapped paintings that I've worked for days on, just because I didn't feel like it was cool or something D:

Chicken of the Seas

Chicken of the Seas

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

California, USA

Vulpes Velox [Fox]

Me/

I'm more in photography, so sorry if I stick out like a sore thumb.

For me I need to go less with a crowd pleaser photograph and instead take pictures of subjects that people would normally consider ugly, or boring, but take it in an interesting way. I'm guilty of having a lot of puppy photographs (because people love puppies!). However I love adult dogs too, especially bully breeds except I don't take too many pictures of them because I'd have to bother someone to keep him out for me, or because I figure, "Well, I can always try it some other time."

Yeah I have photos of adult dogs but its always the puppies that brings the most attention and favorites =P.

Anyway since I'm pretty much alone in my photography view amongst digital drawing/painting artists, I'll slink out now =P.

Espadon

Espadon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

USA [GMT -5]

State of the Nolani [gusy]

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueXIV
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haha, I'm pretty much the opposite... I had to control the urge to scrap my painting and restart it. I've scrapped paintings that I've worked for days on, just because I didn't feel like it was cool or something D:
I have no problem with THAT. It's when you feel it's cool but there's something wrong that was inherent from the beginning. Ex WIP of Alis:

Had to obliterate her face because it just didn't fit as I changed improved the pose as I went. Do please laugh at the entire silliness of the anatomy. This was from last year and I spent waaaay too much time just on the face.

BlueXIV

BlueXIV

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

CA

N/

Yeah, I have no trouble with throwing away work... -_-
I try not to focus too much on one area if I can, but if and when I fall into that pitfall, I just paste this and onto the face or whatever, and force myself to redo it :P

I like the mood in that WiP tho

Espadon

Espadon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

USA [GMT -5]

State of the Nolani [gusy]

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueXIV View Post
I try not to focus too much on one area if I can, but if and when I fall into that pitfall, I just paste this GG that's a great idea there!

Duranin

Duranin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Feb 2007

East Coast

none

Me/

I ... don't really know what my biggest personal hurdle would be. I know for sure that I have a lot of problems but none of them seem overpowering compared to the rest. I suppose it's a toss-up between excessive pride (unwillingness to learn and experiment) and excessive humility (lack of motivation to improve). They sound sort of contradictory I suppose..

Painting has always been kind of touchy for me because no matter how many tutorials and experimental pieces I attempt, the results are always so far from what I want that I basically quit even trying to paint for long periods of time. I'm more or less content with being a stylized/cartoon/semi-anime artist. I've spent so many years working in this style of art, at this point I'd rather improve on it rather than try to drop it and start anew in a completely different direction.

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicken of the Seas
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I'm more in photography, so sorry if I stick out like a sore thumb.

For me I need to go less with a crowd pleaser photograph and instead take pictures of subjects that people would normally consider ugly, or boring, but take it in an interesting way. I'm guilty of having a lot of puppy photographs (because people love puppies!). However I love adult dogs too, especially bully breeds except I don't take too many pictures of them because I'd have to bother someone to keep him out for me, or because I figure, "Well, I can always try it some other time."

Yeah I have photos of adult dogs but its always the puppies that brings the most attention and favorites =P.

Anyway since I'm pretty much alone in my photography view amongst digital drawing/painting artists, I'll slink out now =P. Yay for being normally outsiders here - while I do draw and paint some, I primarily do photomanipulations. Though even those I haven't done a huge amount with lately...meh. Lazy. They can be so finicky to do well, and while I've finally gotten down some good blending techniques sometimes things still look slightly out of place, and there are times I have issues in getting the lighting and contrasts and coloring on everything to match up.

Also, silly anatomy or not, that's some pretty badass armor, Espadon And it really does help if I can remember who posted what, doesn't it.

Chicken of the Seas

Chicken of the Seas

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

California, USA

Vulpes Velox [Fox]

Me/

I know what you mean Verene! I do some photo manipulations as well and get frustrated as hell when things don't seem to be blending in, no matter what techniques I use.

I also kinda understand the feeling of "its not working" and wanting to start over, except its kinda different for me. I'll have this big, awesome part of a picture (or perhaps its one of the main elements) yet it comes off looking not quite right. As much as it sucks to know I wasted time on it, I scrap it and then start that part over again in hopes I can make it look better.

Morag D

Morag D

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2007

UK/Austria

[bone]

P/

@ CnC: I like people seriously commenting on my stuff, finished or WIP, because I can then try to make it better next time - I also seriously think that it helps you finding faults that you don't take in any more because you've just been looking at the damn piece for far too long. I've got a thick skin when it comes to recieving critique (I've got a BA in interior design... having your project torn apart every single week FTW!), but I just can't stand offensive one-liners - if you say something is crap, please elaborate why it is crap, and doing so, help the artist progress. Kthx.

I wasn't saying that by seeing this as a hobby art forum, people should lower their own standards and be less ambitious about their art - not in the least. I just don't like outsiders coming along and comparing fanart with professionals, that's all. An artist may compare and measure him/herself against whoever they like, and it's always good to aim high, but I don't think that other people should do it unless the artist explicitly wanted it. But I also think that if an artist REALLY doesn't want his/her work criticized, then PLEASE SAY SO - we can't be expected to know! (Sorry at this point if I've tried to critique someone in this forum without being asked for it; just trying to help).


biggest hurdle? motivation (cuz I'm a lazy lazy bum) and the fact that if you show any grain of talent, whenever you take out your sketchbook in (semi)public [that includes family], a huge crowd tends to gather around you and stare at your progress. That just puts me off practicing, especially when drawing people. Architecture is fine, I'm quite comfortable with that, but it takes me a lot of time and revising to get a figure the way it should be, and I just can't have people watching me. That's pretty pathetic, and something I shoulg get over because it's useless, but there you have it. I draw well in my private little room where I can scrap and curse as much as I want without anybody noticing



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edit: has anyone ever noticed that this is an eeevul eeeeeeevul thread that makes you read it all the time and not doing any work? YAY for 30 lollygagged office minutes

Nian

Nian

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2007

Finland

R/

Everybody is so in denial about having art as their profession here.

Well I don't know what you end up doing in the future. I was in denial for the longest time with having art as a profession because I was afraid of competition, burning myself out and what not but let me tell you... Like a smart lady on another forum said: There is no starving artist complex, you are only jobless if you are too picky about jobs.

IRL deadlines come before everything. If you don't have the time to do it the way you want to you google some pix and paint over. You almost certainly always use reference when needed. You are going to be drawing stuff you never drew before and it still needs to look polished and pro(you need reference). There is no time to fool around or improvise. Basically if this is not your thing then you might want to consider some other job.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueXIV
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I think some CnC is always good, but that's just my opinion. I usually only CnC when I think people care, but I think being told when something looks off is much easier than struggling to find what's wrong. There's nothing bad about getting better. Anyways, it's pretty easy to tell when someone would like CnC and when someone would rather not hear it. As long as you are nice about it, I don't think it's a bad thing. It is good I guess when the person wants & needs it. It's good when you've worked on a piece for several hours and have become blinded by it. I find though that with my 'lil circle of artist friends we don't crit each other on default. We all have our faults, we can all see them ourselves. Araiia put it well. It is only after generous begging for some harsh crits that anybody bothers to give any haha. We all started on hobbyist forums too. There were people giving really harsh crits and people going all "I LOVE EET". Wheter those comments made me any better I don't think so. The nicest comment is one where you give positive feedback and mention one or two things bothering you about the piece but not a whole listing of errors. When working on a big piece that is really important to you is when harsh crits come into play. In the end only grinding it; drawing & drawing & drawing until your fingers bleed will make anyone better. Just keep doing it persistently. That's all there is to it.

Oh btw you are always welcome to crit me whenever you feel like it lawls. <3 I know Jason Chan's early stuff too. I was a fan even back then. Haha talk about change of style but he was definitely talented back then too and his anime work stood out from the mass imo. You could say he is my idol in that he gives me the feeling that anyone can do a 180 turn if they desire to.

The occupational hazard here with being a pro(having art as profession) is that my wrists fuken fail me. Sometimes they hurt so bad. It may be just the way I'm built but I can not change my technique of drawing so easily and it always ends with my hands aching. This is only with using a tablet and is going to be a serious problem in the future if I don't figure something out...Maybe I need to concider doing traditional stuff at some point.

Tzu

Tzu

Site Contributor

Join Date: Mar 2008

UK/norway

Order Of The Etherbloom Crown [ZEN]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Morag D View Post
[...] finding faults that you don't take in any more because you've just been looking at the damn piece for far too long. myeeah, that is probably my biggest issue >.>''
I get really bored really quickly, and I tend to stop working on an artwork if I've been at it >10hours, never to return to it again... Mostly I reach a point when I CBA to go on anymore, and I just finish it really quickly and ignore my faults. It's hard to get around, since I'm so much more fussed about my education and private life to really care about my art. I do it for fun, and sometimes it turns out good. I feel I'm totally unrealiable, even if I do try to improve a bit with every work I create.

I love photography too! I also like writing. Costumes is my passion, but it takes soo much more time and is such a goldsink (:P) that I have to let my fingers work with something else every now and then to "release my creative energy", if you will, through different outputs.

That said, now I really want to go draw for some reason.
I'll do that! 83

Nian

Nian

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2007

Finland

R/

I just want to add... DeviantArt is NOT the place to receive good crits or anything of the sort. It is pure crap place for that. On DA you are only good if you are drawing fanart from a popular series and get hundreds of faves. This will do nothing for your developement. Find some serious artists to ask from or go to conceptart.org for that. You don't need hundreds of comments. Just a few good ones from people who know what they're talking about. There are plenty of people on this forum who could give better comments than the majority of DA users.

Quote:
and about CnC, I'm not saying everyone has to be an "AWESOME ARTIST," but since this is a part of the internet, I kind of expect people to have a pretty thick skin. Nolani is actually incredibly nice and sheltered when compared to even the rest of gwgurus. There are some flamers of course, but I genuinely believe 99% of the average posters here are nice people.
Gamers are out for BLOOD.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Espadon View Post
I think for me it was learning to let go and to destroy and restart. It's oftentimes really hard to destroy stuff that one has worked a long time on, even if it doesn't fit in well. I ended up specifically destroying stuff that I've worked hard on just to get used to letting go and came up with a credo to keep myself going -- "To create you must be able to destroy" -- and as I went I had a progressively easier time obliterating as the constant practice also made it easier to [re]create. Hehe the basics of "kill your darlings".
I used to have these comic characters and stories several years old that were going nowhere until I learned to erase all those unnessecary characters I loved so much. Rechange and rearrange everything in the stories etc. It was a big improvement. The story must go on.

Espadon

Espadon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

USA [GMT -5]

State of the Nolani [gusy]

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Originally Posted by Nian
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Gamers are out for BLOOD. You speak verily.

It's definitely nice to have a professional here amongst us; any other advice from the pr0 world you'd like to share with some of us aspiring to go that way?

Nian

Nian

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2007

Finland

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Espadon
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You speak verily.

It's definitely nice to have a professional here amongst us; any other advice from the pr0 world you'd like to share with some of us aspiring to go that way? Uguu. I work for a small game company. I didn't plan on it to happen either but one day I was just sitting in the office drawing. It felt absurd tbh but has given me a lot more courage and drive to go on with this career.

In my (short) experience more important than being the best of the best and the cream of the crop(although that helps) is having networks and relations. Know someone who knows someone in company X. Companies will likely hire people that somebody in the firm knows about. My teachers used to go on about how networking is the most important thing and that we should take part in additional projects when we could. They weren't kidding. All my jobs so far I've gotten through relations. I did waste a good amount of time sending emails to random companies with little luck. They are busy people. They are likely to ignore your stuff unless your name rings a bell. Art teachers usually have lots of relations. Be on good terms with them and they will put out good word for you.

I worked in this shitty advertizing company for a bit and hated it but just bit my lip and acted as nice as I could. Turns out these people had relations elsewhere too so it was a good thing I didn't piss them off just because I hate advertizing.

I think being professional is about being able to work as part of a team. Understanding deadlines and obligations. Acting professional and not throwing tantrums when things go bad. There ARE people like this! Being able to take criticism and adapt to changes i.e. redoing or suddenly completely scrapping projects you were working on. It's nothing personal anyway. Companies need to do only what benefits them. Also knowing your way around the programs and being independent (not needing someone to babysit you) will help a lot. Be someone they can trust to do a job in time.

That's what comes to mind. It all has very little to do with the art itself but naturally you must be decent.

I think people use the word 'professional' a lot to refer to those really talented pros out there but to me it just means anyone who has it as a profession.

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

Quote:
DeviantArt is NOT the place to receive good crits or anything of the sort. It is pure crap place for that. On DA you are only good if you are drawing fanart from a popular series and get hundreds of faves. Well, sometimes. I'm not saying that it's the best place, but, like, the sort of stuff I generally do? There really aren't many other large communities of digital artists that do photomanipulating. There's GFX Artist, which is much smaller (and frankly I can't be bothered to deal with their posting restrictions to post there much), and Neosynthesis, which really is just a big clique from dA, but other than that...really not much choice.

Unfortunately, since a lot of kids seem to think that desaturating a photo, turning it neon green, and blurring it is a photomanip, the galleries on dA are really clogged with garbage. Which kind of sucks for an artist like me, who isn't quite in the top tier there (though I do strive to get better) nor has tons and tons of friends.

My favorite, though, was still when a certain deviant (who appears to have emptied her gallery and now posts anime drawings) informed me that since her work got more favorites than mine did, she obviously must be the better artist and how dare I try and give C&C, even though she had been asking for it. And her manips were the typical "take a stock photo, blur it, desaturate it, and slap on some red". I was just like...no, dear. All it means is that you have a lot of friends who'll fave anything

BlueXIV

BlueXIV

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

CA

N/

@Morag, I agree with pretty much everything you just said. When I said compare, I meant comparing yourself. There is no reason you should let other people set the standard for you. And I hate offensive one liners as much as any other artist; "she looks like she got raped," WTF?? gtfo.

That said tho, it IS the internet, and trolls will be trolls . No point in getting too offended, laugh it off, and go on with your life :\

@Nian, I'm not entirely in denial with art as a profession, it's just that I like what I'm doing in college as well. I'm so entirely sure what to make of art right now, but it relaxes me, so I consider it a hobby/stress relief (which kinda makes you wonder whats wrong when my stress relief is drawing really morbid thing D

@Verene, Hmm, I'm not entirely sure where to go for photomanip. I never got into it very much myself, and I hatehatehate taking photos XD. The only thing I ever do with photos is engage in some matte painting. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it's basically digitally (or non digitally) painting directly on top of a photo. You can get some really cool results from it. I know a lot of industry concept artists use it to do extremely realistic scenes fast.

Hmm I'll find an example... Hehe, this is one of my favorites, be sure to give his paintings justice by viewing the large versions
http://www.dusso.com/pages/EP3/EP3main.html

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

STAR WARS! Coruscant and Theed, too. Shiny. I had a larger version of the painting on the very bottom (the Jedi Temple) as my wallpaper for half a year, back when ROTS came out.

I do know what matte painting is, I did a fair bit of it myself when I decided I wanted to learn how to paint digitally. It can definitely be rather neat, yes

And since you mentioned matte paintings and brought up SW, my boyfriend and I recently watched all six movies in order in a single day, snarking the hell out of them (as we are huge geeks), and for some reason we felt the need to point out all of the matte painting backgrounds, us being the art geeks we are. For some reason they were the most noticable in Return of the Jedi.

Anyway, I don't generally use my own photos much for photomanips; I do use them a bunch for making my own textures and the like, though. Finding stuff to photograph for stock is a pain, though. The stock galleries on dA are a lifesend for me

Espadon

Espadon

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

USA [GMT -5]

State of the Nolani [gusy]

A/

I just can't help but feel guilty when using photo stock. Even using publicly distributed custom brushes makes me feel guilty xD

There's really no reason to, though.

Chicken of the Seas

Chicken of the Seas

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

California, USA

Vulpes Velox [Fox]

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verene
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Well, sometimes. I'm not saying that it's the best place, but, like, the sort of stuff I generally do? There really aren't many other large communities of digital artists that do photomanipulating. There's GFX Artist, which is much smaller (and frankly I can't be bothered to deal with their posting restrictions to post there much), and Neosynthesis, which really is just a big clique from dA, but other than that...really not much choice.

Unfortunately, since a lot of kids seem to think that desaturating a photo, turning it neon green, and blurring it is a photomanip, the galleries on dA are really clogged with garbage. Which kind of sucks for an artist like me, who isn't quite in the top tier there (though I do strive to get better) nor has tons and tons of friends.
THIS. QFT for sure. Its really hard to find photography/photo manipulation friendly communities besides DA and perhaps Flickr, but if anyone has any idea on other sites I'd really like to know of them. I'm working on my AS degree so I can transfer and major in zoology (or something similar) but art will always be a side hobby for me. While I won't be professional or anything, my dream has always been to be able to take photographs of exotic animals as well. Maybe I can make like, calendars or posters or something as a side thing. =P

BlueXIV

BlueXIV

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

CA

N/

I'm not sure about photomanip, but with general photography, there are a LOT of different options out there, usually better than dA in terms of critiques :\.

I think the problem with photomanips is that there isn't much of a professional niche for them, so there isn't as many communities.

Nian

Nian

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2007

Finland

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verene View Post
Well, sometimes. I'm not saying that it's the best place, but, like, the sort of stuff I generally do? There really aren't many other large communities of digital artists that do photomanipulating. There's GFX Artist, which is much smaller (and frankly I can't be bothered to deal with their posting restrictions to post there much), and Neosynthesis, which really is just a big clique from dA, but other than that...really not much choice.
Well those are things I have no clue about so mainly talking about drawing here. I get a headache just holding a SLR. I'm not saying DA wasn't fun and it's a nice gallery to use when you need to quickly show your artworks to someone. Ofcourse there are really great artists mixed in too so it's fun to browse if you can ignore all the annoying stuff.

Quote:
My favorite, though, was still when a certain deviant (who appears to have emptied her gallery and now posts anime drawings) informed me that since her work got more favorites than mine did, she obviously must be the better artist and how dare I try and give C&C, even though she had been asking for it. And her manips were the typical "take a stock photo, blur it, desaturate it, and slap on some red". I was just like...no, dear. All it means is that you have a lot of friends who'll fave anything Must be awesome. This makes me want to post...

Behold my most faved deviation ever! It had 400+ faves being one of the oldest pieces in my gallery then so it had time to accummulate those faves. God knows why. It looks like something I puked out in 5minutes... It doesn't even have a nose for pete's sake!

Makes me shudder just thinking back hrrrgh. Watching it gain all those faves was part of the reason I wiped my gallery. There is still a lovely cancer awareness stamp available for faving lulz.
http://neesa.deviantart.com/

Chicken of the Seas

Chicken of the Seas

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

California, USA

Vulpes Velox [Fox]

Me/

@Nian
Haha, and I couldn't help but notice your breast cancer awareness stamp has 95 faves.

@Verne
I checked out some of your manipulations, and you're really great at what you do! I like you you manage to blend everything in so well...something I have yet to work on. My laziness usually takes over though (sadly!)

I'm not that popular on DA but my most favorited photo of course, was a picture of puppies. Teh Puppies! What baffles me is the fact that I have better pictures of puppies that aren't obstructed by the cage (this was more intended to be an aww shot rather then an attempt at being pro) yet this one has the most favorites. Ah well.

I have a Nikon D40 and while its not the top of the line, its simple enough for me to get the job done. I also own a 55-200mm zoom lens for it, which is AWESOME. It helps a lot when I can't get close to my subject because they might eat me. =)

Chicken of the Seas

Chicken of the Seas

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

California, USA

Vulpes Velox [Fox]

Me/

Lmao, truly did not see that one coming. I mean seriously, out of all your cosplays and more recent work...wtf? =P I guess DA people are big on Disney too, that would make sense for the "cute" factor.

BlueXIV

BlueXIV

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

CA

N/

Like I told Tzu on msn, I pretty much fail at doing sexy or cute. The only other thing that gets faves on dA would be "epic," and that actually takes work D:

...Which might be why I avoided dA... Hmmmm...

Widowmaker

Widowmaker

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2008

N/

Thing about dA is people have to actively search for you work unless they see it on the front page when you first post it.

Which is about a 2 minute window of opportunity if you're lucky.

That is why things like Star Wars, FF, and so on get a lot of faves, people know to look for it.

Duranin

Duranin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Feb 2007

East Coast

none

Me/

Lol... on my old dA account, my most fav'd deviation was this piece of. With 69 favs.
I mean, it's not particularly BAD, but what offended me the most was that none of my original art got many favs, but instead I was getting a pile of favs on a small, poorly done vector of an anime screenshot of all things. It misrepresented me very much and led me to scrapping the deviation as well as hiding my stats (which happen to include which one of my uploads is the most popular, etc.) What Widowmaker said about fanart is probably correct in the case of my vector, which is even more depressing since the anime the vector came from is a relatively obscure, not-so-popular one. That just goes to say how obscure and unpopular the rest of my art is, eh? p:

This commission, this, and this are tied for most favs in my current gallery, at a mere 9 apiece. I'm not particularly bothered by dA popularity (if anything, it annoys me how much drama springs out of it and how much of a popularity contest it tends to become among certain fandoms) and I haven't made any attempt to advertise my account/art.

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

On dA, you really need to push to make yourself known, or do what's popular right now.

On an unrelated note, I'm amused that you did a drawing of a character named Alanna, Araiia Alana is my real name and I so rarely ever see anyone with or using any form of it, so I'm always amused by that. Also, one of my favorite characters from a book is named Alanna

Duranin

Duranin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Feb 2007

East Coast

none

Me/

@Verene - hehe, there's a fictional Alanna from a series of books I like. Could be thinking about the same one.

@Chicken - it's fine, and ty for the support (:
I tend to be really lazy when it comes to contests because I have a very negative mentality regarding my chances of winning/the prizes involved/the time and effort involved creating my contest entry. Oddly enough the higher the stakes/more recognition the contest is, the less likely I'll enter. If it's just a small contest then I'd enter.