You're welcome!
Also, dafont.com is pretty awesome too.
Artists' Discovery Thread [Share ideas and techniques here]
Verene
Smilin' Assassin
ok, this is not a painting tool, but very useful for artists and art collectors alike ~
DropBox is virtual storage, verymuch like a flashdrive, but without the hassle of physically inserting your USB key
there are many programs like it, but this one's really nifty
You get 2 gig free, + 250meg extra whenever you refer someone (up to a limit)
Those who use multiple computers, it syncs across all of them very quickly
For me, as an art collector, DropBox's primary value is to store valuable printable files in the event my computer ever crashes.
It's also extremely handy for sharing files; each file has a public link if you want it to, so you can simpy send a friend a link to that, instead of uploading the file itself via email.
Many artists I've commissioned just send me the link to their own DropBox, no need to bother with megaupload. For large .tiff files which can be tens of meg, that is a handy thing indeed.
Of course, art is not the only thing you can share, documents contacts and music too .. just about anything~!
You can share across DropBoxes too, if your friend has one.
There are features I have yet to use, such as Revision History.
As I understand it, if you are storing a document or art you are working on, and accidentally save over it, you can call up an earlier version
Handy for PSD files when/if they corrupt.
this is the Shameless Plug part ~ you don't need to click on it
Ala's DropBox referral
You could instead google DropBox and download it that way, tho if you use Alacrity's referral you and I will both get a 250meg extra storage
Either way it's too useful, would recommend it to anyone with valuable files or who just wants convenient sharing options
DropBox is virtual storage, verymuch like a flashdrive, but without the hassle of physically inserting your USB key
there are many programs like it, but this one's really nifty
You get 2 gig free, + 250meg extra whenever you refer someone (up to a limit)
Those who use multiple computers, it syncs across all of them very quickly
For me, as an art collector, DropBox's primary value is to store valuable printable files in the event my computer ever crashes.
It's also extremely handy for sharing files; each file has a public link if you want it to, so you can simpy send a friend a link to that, instead of uploading the file itself via email.
Many artists I've commissioned just send me the link to their own DropBox, no need to bother with megaupload. For large .tiff files which can be tens of meg, that is a handy thing indeed.
Of course, art is not the only thing you can share, documents contacts and music too .. just about anything~!
You can share across DropBoxes too, if your friend has one.
There are features I have yet to use, such as Revision History.
As I understand it, if you are storing a document or art you are working on, and accidentally save over it, you can call up an earlier version
Handy for PSD files when/if they corrupt.
this is the Shameless Plug part ~ you don't need to click on it
Ala's DropBox referral
You could instead google DropBox and download it that way, tho if you use Alacrity's referral you and I will both get a 250meg extra storage
Either way it's too useful, would recommend it to anyone with valuable files or who just wants convenient sharing options
tasha
I know this thread has gone a bit dead but seeing as this is the place for tips and technique discussion...
Hands. I hate them. They're awkward. Nearly every non reference picture I draw end up with no hands or weird looking hands. Usually they're tiny compared to the head or arm. There's a couple of examples on my DeviantArt( http://tashadarke.deviantart.com/ ), especially in the WIP section if you can get to that part. I can see my sketch book getting filled with drawings of hands over the next few days as I tend to go mental on something that I know I'm bad at. So I'm looking for tips of how to make drawing hands a little easier, especially in situations where the hand is gripping an item, or the fingers are splayed. Thanks.
Hands. I hate them. They're awkward. Nearly every non reference picture I draw end up with no hands or weird looking hands. Usually they're tiny compared to the head or arm. There's a couple of examples on my DeviantArt( http://tashadarke.deviantart.com/ ), especially in the WIP section if you can get to that part. I can see my sketch book getting filled with drawings of hands over the next few days as I tend to go mental on something that I know I'm bad at. So I'm looking for tips of how to make drawing hands a little easier, especially in situations where the hand is gripping an item, or the fingers are splayed. Thanks.
Verene
I really hate drawing hands as well. They're so annoying and finicky and so easy to make look weird.
Try practicing drawing your own hand a lot? Don't even, like, photograph it and then sketch that pose. Just hold it in a specific way and sketch that as best you can. It does help a lot. Study how it looks when holding certain things in different ways and stuff.
(also, happy belated birthday!)
Try practicing drawing your own hand a lot? Don't even, like, photograph it and then sketch that pose. Just hold it in a specific way and sketch that as best you can. It does help a lot. Study how it looks when holding certain things in different ways and stuff.
(also, happy belated birthday!)
BlueXIV
Practice drawing them is probably the best advice I can give you. Also, hands are usually roughly the size of your face, so you can always use that as a measurement.
Not to pull a YSJ, but this might help you
http://www.scribd.com/doc/501782/And...Head-and-Hands
Not to pull a YSJ, but this might help you
http://www.scribd.com/doc/501782/And...Head-and-Hands
tasha
Thanks both loads 
Looks like I got a lot of reading and drawing to do.
@Verene: thanks!
Looks like I got a lot of reading and drawing to do.@Verene: thanks!
KageNoShi
Ravenhawk
I hate hands too. I am no expert on this yet but there are two things that help me deal with them better:
1. Don't look at hands as one unit as it is composed of individual smaller parts. The palm, the thumb also the fleshy part that extends from thumb down to the wrist), fingers, plus the joints in each finger.
2. References - I use references for hand gestures. If I cant find one , I look at my own hand.
I found a really nice hand tutorial days ago but I lost it -_-"
1. Don't look at hands as one unit as it is composed of individual smaller parts. The palm, the thumb also the fleshy part that extends from thumb down to the wrist), fingers, plus the joints in each finger.
2. References - I use references for hand gestures. If I cant find one , I look at my own hand.
I found a really nice hand tutorial days ago but I lost it -_-"
Rydia Merchan
The best artist for drawing hands that most of us would relate too is comic book artist Marc Silvestri. He was mainly famous for drawing Marvel Comics "Wolverine" and the "Uncanny X-Men" during the late 1980's and through the 1990's. He was also a founder for Image with the rest of that outstanding art group (Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen and so on). His issues of the Uncanny X-Men had this awesome sketch book style with excellent anatomy, which made his art look more real than comic bookish. I had never seen such realism used before, and each issue he did, he drew amazing hands and fingers!
http://comics.imakinarium.net/autore...stri/3x3/3.jpg
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/un...men/239-13.jpg
http://www.marcsilvestriart.com/
I learned a lot from his work.
http://comics.imakinarium.net/autore...stri/3x3/3.jpg
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/un...men/239-13.jpg
http://www.marcsilvestriart.com/
I learned a lot from his work.
Woodelf Archer
hey guys I wasnt sure where to post so forgive if this is wrong
I'm looking to get into digital art but its confusing where to start. I already have access to photoshop but im wondering if you can help me with a couple of things?
Im looking to buy a wacom tablet, maybe the bamboo but I might get the Intuos4 if the price can be justified?
Additionally are any programs other than photoshop useful or recommended?
Finally can you recommend any books or software that you use/used to get better at art? Particularly in drawing detailed anatomically correct humans and fantasy art?
I know the last post on here was a while ago but I hope you can help me? im literally itching to get started
thanks in advance, - Mark
I'm looking to get into digital art but its confusing where to start. I already have access to photoshop but im wondering if you can help me with a couple of things?
Im looking to buy a wacom tablet, maybe the bamboo but I might get the Intuos4 if the price can be justified?
Additionally are any programs other than photoshop useful or recommended?
Finally can you recommend any books or software that you use/used to get better at art? Particularly in drawing detailed anatomically correct humans and fantasy art?
I know the last post on here was a while ago but I hope you can help me? im literally itching to get started
thanks in advance, - Mark
Perynne
This is the right place. Even though there has been no activity for a while, this is the best place to pose questions for everyone to see.
Wacom Bamboo is the best tablet to start with. It's simple and not too expensive, and it's really great to use. Intuos is one of the best tablets out there, but it's expensive and geared more towards professional drawing (or at least drawing digital art a LOT). So if you're just starting out with digital art, Bamboo will be adequate (and you won't feel bad about it gathering dust if you end up taking a break from drawing).
Photoshop is the best to start out with. If you'd like to play around with different programs, other options are Paint Tool SAI, Open Canvas (a personal favourite of mine) and Corel Painter. Whereas Photoshop excels at almost everything, including photo manipulation, these other three programs are geared exclusively towards drawing and painting.
Anatomy is best learnt from drawing live models. Second best is getting artists' anatomy books or using photos for reference. I'm sorry that I can't really recommend any books, I've learnt most of my skills from either a bit of live model drawing, or using photos as reference. There are good stock-galleries in DeviantArt that have huge collections of different poses.
I recommend looking for tutorials at art websites, looking at a lot of different artists and what their methods are, and perhaps finding some videos online where an artist shows their painting process. Deviantart has a lot of tutorials and great artists, and Conceptart.org is the leading site to go to for concept artists' WIPs and talk about their works.
If you have enough money to dish out, you may even consider ordering ImagineFX, a magazine centered around digital art that provides a free cd with each issue, filled with brushes, textures and some tutorials.
Even though there has been no activity for a while, this is the best place to pose questions for everyone to see.Wacom Bamboo is the best tablet to start with. It's simple and not too expensive, and it's really great to use. Intuos is one of the best tablets out there, but it's expensive and geared more towards professional drawing (or at least drawing digital art a LOT). So if you're just starting out with digital art, Bamboo will be adequate (and you won't feel bad about it gathering dust if you end up taking a break from drawing).
Photoshop is the best to start out with. If you'd like to play around with different programs, other options are Paint Tool SAI, Open Canvas (a personal favourite of mine) and Corel Painter. Whereas Photoshop excels at almost everything, including photo manipulation, these other three programs are geared exclusively towards drawing and painting.
Anatomy is best learnt from drawing live models. Second best is getting artists' anatomy books or using photos for reference. I'm sorry that I can't really recommend any books, I've learnt most of my skills from either a bit of live model drawing, or using photos as reference. There are good stock-galleries in DeviantArt that have huge collections of different poses.
I recommend looking for tutorials at art websites, looking at a lot of different artists and what their methods are, and perhaps finding some videos online where an artist shows their painting process. Deviantart has a lot of tutorials and great artists, and Conceptart.org is the leading site to go to for concept artists' WIPs and talk about their works.
If you have enough money to dish out, you may even consider ordering ImagineFX, a magazine centered around digital art that provides a free cd with each issue, filled with brushes, textures and some tutorials.
Tommy's
*copy pastes Pery's post*
She pretty much sums it up. I use photoshop and photoshop only, because I'm used to it, and now I find other programs terrible to use
I got all the references, tutorials, brushes and stocks from deviantart.com. So have yourself a look there
She pretty much sums it up. I use photoshop and photoshop only, because I'm used to it, and now I find other programs terrible to use
I got all the references, tutorials, brushes and stocks from deviantart.com. So have yourself a look there
Ravenhawk
What Tommy said about what Perynne said 
Just want to add a little more:
Quote:
Im looking to buy a wacom tablet, maybe the bamboo but I might get the Intuos4 if the price can be justified?
Just want to add a little more:Quote:
Quote:
I also use Sketchbook Pro because I like the responsiveness of the pencil tool. It is also pretty lightweight and the controls are designed so that you wont have to use your keyboard while working on something. I use this for sketching and preliminary (grayscale) shading. I then import my work to Photoshop for detailed shading + coloring.
Quote:
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Finally can you recommend any books or software that you use/used to get better at art? Particularly in drawing detailed anatomically correct humans and fantasy art?
I can't remember any of them at the top of my head but just search in DeviantArt and Google and you'll find tons of resources.
GeminiJuSa
Personally I can say thar wacom in general is the best tablet to buy. I'm using a wacom pen, it doesn't get simpler (or cheaper) than that, and I must say I find it very nice with a smaller tablet rather than a big once (I used to own a trust tablet, with a drawing area as big as an A4 paper) pecause it helps you avoid needing to make bigger motions with your hand.
Also, wacom in general is the most advanced and easy to use tablet out there on the market. They are the biggest for a reason, no matter how much I loved my Trust tablet, the wacom is just so much easier to use and more responsive. I also use photoshop, and I recommend it mostly because there are so many tutorials covering phtoshop, both in tablet and non tablet use. It also has plenty possibilities to mix your drawing with digital art that you mostly just need a mouse to create.
Verene
I also have a Wacom, and it's great. It's almost ten years old and still works well, too, which is also nice
When I get around to replacing it, it'll definitely be with another Wacom. Another one saying that Photoshop is great - I've been using it for almost ten years, and it's my default program for everything, painting included. I have OpenCanvas, I have Paint Tool SAI, I have Painter...and I never use them. Definitely prefer Photoshop. (and drawing is only a tiny bit of what you can do with Photoshop; I'm primarily a photomanipulator, so yeah.)
Thistle Xandra
Oh, I guess thing one thing I want to add is that there are two versions of Photoshop, which took me my surprise. There's Photoshop Elements (what I have) and Photoshop CS5 (which is a way more expensive). It throws me off sometimes when I find a tutorial that uses the CS5 tools, and then I go all sad panda
 I got my bamboo tablet a few weeks ago off of amazon. I think it's the medium size one, but it was listed as $199 (comes out cheaper when you put it in your shopping cart), and the reason I went for it was because it came with Photoshop Elements. I think the cheaper version came with just Corel Paint. I couldn't personally justify buying anything more expensive since I knew it would be a while until I get the skill level to even make use of the more expensive ones. I think the more expensive ones *might* come with the CS5, but I'd double-check that :/
Woodelf Archer
wow thanks for the huge, and really fast response! There was so much solid information on here, it took me days to get through and research everything =D
I know I'm gunna stick to photoshop, and pick up an issue of ImagineFX, I'm not decided on which tablet yet as A6 just in my mind seems too small...? I draw at A4-A5 comfortably, but maybe im not understanding how it works. anyway huge thankyou to everyone who helped me =D hopefully ill doing some masterpieces in the near future ^^ and hopefully enter wintersday workshop if I get the hang of things =D!!! - Mark
Tommy's
Picking the size is really a matter of how you prefer to draw and has nothing to do with the size you like to draw in. I draw in A3 and in A100001010 on the same laptop. Thats why I disagree on this one (or at least the way I interpreted her text) with Pery. Don't go for a larger tablet because you can miss it.
Larger isn't always better. My advice is to look at the way you prefer to draw. Do you draw out of your shoulder or out of your wrist? I for one prefer to draw out of my wrist. Therefor I prefer to make small strokes rather then long ones. The smaller the range of my tablet is, the less long I need to make my strokes to cover my drawing. What I'm trying to say is, that in my opinion if you prefer to draw with your complete arm (so out of your shoulder) you would like to get a bigger tablet (lets say if you are buying a Wacom Intuos4, one of the size L) and if you prefer to draw out of your wrist then I could advice one of the size of M or maybe even S. Just see what you prefer. Perhabs you can visit some shop, and see what works best for you. Or perhabs you know some friends with a tablet that you could try out, see what fits your habit of drawing best.
Chicken of the Seas
Random question, but how are you guys making those signature stamp things?
GeminiJuSa
One thing to note when using tablets is that the ratio of the tablet's drawing area very rarely is exactly the same as the screen, which means that the tablet adjusts to it. As a result of this, you may notice that making a perfect circle on the tablet surface doesn't make a perfect circle on screen. The difference isn't much and mostly you learn to draw watching the screen anyway.
I only noticed the difference the other week when I was in a slump for not being very good with digital lineart and thinking I had lost skill, then I drew by hand and realized I didn't such as much as I thought I did ;P @Tuna: The watermarks?
Smilin' Assassin
http://news.deviantart.com/article/64044/
I don't think he could make it any more explicit without getting tl;dr take the time to read it; it's probably already common knowledge for some of you, but might be a revelation to others ~
Chicken of the Seas
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeminiJuSa
@Tuna: The watermarks?
Yes.
12 chars
Perynne
You make them as a new brush in Photoshop.
First, you draw/write what you want your signature to be. Make sure to draw it large enough, so that it will look good even in larger drawings. Then, you make it into a new brush (tutorials here and here, found them with a quick google). And you're finished! You can use your new signature brush on any drawing you want to mark your own without needing to copy by hand the same signature over and over again. Another way to do a watermark (the see-through one that's almost solely text) is to first make a new canvas, write down the text you want for it, then save the page. Then, copy paste the text to the drawings you want the watermark on, and change the opacity to make it more see-through.
Chicken of the Seas
Ah I see, thanks! I just asked because it seemed like everyone had similar ones. (You, Charlie, Tommy, anyone else I may have missed :P) And they look really cool.
Perynne
Yeah, I just made a proper one during my last drawing.
Gonna be using it from now on, they are a fun and easy way to show what's made by you.
Tommy's
Omai thank you for asking this Tuna!
I always draw my signature and then save it in a layer and duplicate the layer into my new file. But saving it as a brush is way better ^^ *feels silly for not thinking of that*Eastern artists often have signatures with a border. I think thats what both me and Charlie inspired them on.
Tommy's
Hoping anyone could help me out with this.
Recently I've been more and more trying out new brushes, adjust them to my liking and the way I paint. When you save a brush as a new brush set (so resaving an existing one, not creating one from black) you can tag off the box for keep current brush size. That way your brushsize doesn't jump to an odd big of small size when switching brush sizes, but it just remains the same. Sadly enough I don't know how to turn this off for my existing brushes which do have a set size (other then recreating them, which is what I'm trying to avoid). Anyone has an idea?
Aeronwen
Tommy, sorry I cannot help with any technical stuff
Just wanted to make sure everyone has seen this http://www.arena.net/blog/join-the-c...ketch-club-app I hope you all have fancy phones ^^
Smilin' Assassin
here's a couple of useful links, that might be especially pertinent to Invertation's Landscape Contest
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_...id=3275&page=1 - quick n to the point http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/135/120/ - really detailed but even a nonartist like myself learned something new, and that helps me appreciate art better :}
Ravenhawk
Speaking of brushes (here and my own thread)
Anyone know how to achieve a similar effect as below?: http://aditya777.deviantart.com/art/Ai-220609-126800951 I want to practice the same technique in studying dynamic poses (just nice and quick like that because I spend way too much time on finished drawings) but I dunno how to get the same brush effect >_<
Tommy's
I'd say that is a simple hard egde airbrush. Take one of the standard photoshop ones, put Transfer on, vary in size jitter and put pen pressure on and voila. Its really a pretty standard brush.
I think what is so appealing about it is that (s)he uses the erraser well. I think very little people use the eraser a lot (I think Morag D is a good example of someone who knows when to use the eraser ^^). You can also perhabs try to mess around with wet edges.
Eastern Magik
lasso tool (set on "add on" option) and eraser can do the trick too.
Tommy's
Oh btw I just tried the standard photohop brushes and their flow is a bit messy I think (they more look like a lot of dots behind eachother if you know what I mean
). I uploaded a smoother one for ya . Though I think (s)he uses the standard photoshop ones, if you look at the raffled dress just beneath her hand/sword, and at the legg underneath the sword you see the lotsofdotsbehindeachothereffect And I think he/she uses eraser at different settings yeah, but the nice thing with erasers is that you can get different (more pointy) shapes then with a brush alone. If I make something raffled or something I always use eraser rather then brushes (same goes for the glyphs on the ribbon of Nians monk I'm working on). And you can use the same brush as eraser or a different brush, doesn't matter just depends on what you want to acchieve I'd say the artist used a normal (so same as the brush) eraser on that one. It looks pretty basic (like in use of brushes, I'd say just one ).
Verene
Definitely a regular hard brush with flow turned down. It looks like the sort of effect that I initially have while painting before blending and cleaning up stuff, and my 'standard' brush is just the regular hard brush with size jitter turned off (I hate having it on pen pressure - I just manually adjust the sizes), opacity and flow set to pen pressure, and both turned down to about 50%.
Ravenhawk
Thanks guys! Esp you Tommy. I tried that brush. It's awesome. Might play with the settings a little bit. I haven't tried Verene's settings yet and lasso tool as Eastern suggested. *hugs*
Invertation
Playing around with Lineart (Via Egnki's works), in particular, the pen tool on photoshop.
 I rather like the effect of a pressure gradient, but at the same time, it creates something of an implied outline. Anyone have any tips on how they do lineart, or perhaps ways to make this method a bit crisper?
Verene
I love the pen tool for lineart, and I love the pressure thingy with it. The look it gives is awesome. I actually use that quite often, but sometimes to give it a bit more definition I'll stroke each line twice - first with the pressure on, and then again with the brush a bit smaller and pressure off.
Tommy's
As crazy as it might sound, most people don't use pen tool as far as I know. After a shitload of practice your hand gets so steady, you just make the strokes from your hand (and use ctrl+z a lot
). If you want to stick with pentool though, you should check (asuming you use photohsop) Brush setting box, go to shape dynamics and play around with the minimum diameter jitter. That way you can have more different lines and you are able to make lines actually touch (with no min. diameter, you get the result as you have it; lines don't really touch). Hope it helps
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