[J. Tsang]

i've been doing digital painting for about a year, and i've tried both photoshop and painter. everyone knows that photoshop is a powerful touch up tool. i usually start my painting with painter, work on it until it's %90 finished, and then switch to photoshop to do some touch ups. i know that many artists out there use photoshop to paint. they start from scretch in photoshop, work in photoshop, and finish with photoshop. i just dont know how they do that coz photoshop doesn't provide very good painting tools. it does provide good tools for visual effects, but not stuff like different paint brushes and blending tool.
to me, the most mysterious thing about photoshop is i never know how to blend colors quickly with it. blending colors together is one of the most important parts of a 'realistic' painting. photoshop provide two brushes, the air brush, and the paint brush. with the paintbrush, i found it hard to blend colors together, while the airbrush is working fine, but it doesn't always do exactly what i wanted. with painter, i have no such problems.
i am not saying that photoshop can't do what painter can do. in fact, i saw many good artists who produce excellent paintings using photoshop only. i am just questioning the efficiency of using it.
so please explain to me the trick of using photoshop. or u may just want to share your painting procedure with us. that'll be very helpful. thank you.

[eyewoo]

Yup! I'm one of those PShop from initial sketch to final picture people. I think it is compelling and exciting to find out what a new medium is about ... to explore and discover how to squeeze out the best and most it can do ... to discover and use what it offers as unique. The medium, of course, is digital - tiny pixels of color delivered via a very sophisticated software program.

I approach this exploration from a traditional painter's POV... but I prefer PShop over Painter because PShop isn't about trying to simulate traditional media, it is the new media. Painter is mostly about trying to use this new medium to simulate an existing medium. And Painter does it quite well... but if you want a picture to look as if it was painted with oil paints, then paint it with oil paints...

I'm slowly developing some tutorials that describe my digital (PSHOP) POV. They can be seen on my website at www.eyewoo.com/ndx_tutorial.html. I have a few more in mind... just have to find the time to do them...

[Light]

Here we see two opposing ideological view points.

My own view is that any good painting program should be able to simulate real media at a high degree and also break way from it with ease. And go beyond it.

No program yet does this.

The only real "digital" painting method in my opinion is pure pixeling.

Otherwise.. you might as well be using a perfectly simulated tools.

Most people use photoshop over painter not because of its strong points but because painter has a lot of weak points. Including bad interface design, extreme bugginess, and no simple digital tools.

Also, with photoshop 7.. it is more capable with the tablet.

[T-cude]

I would say the media dun stand in the way if u are a good painter. It's more of how u work with u'r subject and experiment with u'r media.(something u are comfortable with)

Anyway i have been trying to get this in my mind but i think it'll take time.~

[PixHortHiT]

In my point of view there isnt something real about digital painting, so what if it cant simulate the real thing when it isnt...

God I�m tired..

[Lee Yiankun]

I'm one people who wants to try Painter, but tired of the Cliff-high learning curve.
In order to get photoshop to do what I want, I use low opacity brushes,low level smudging, Overlay, Contrast/hue adjustment.
I dont try to simulate Natural media, since the only medium I had experience with is Color pencils. But I still try to get a Natural feel to my paintings, Leaving Brush stoke here & there. Most people who started learning Photoshop likes to make thier art Crisp & Clean, But I like to keep some feel of the progress in my work(Meanwhile saving me alot of cleaning up time).

PS, I come from a Anime/Manga background, so Painting traditionally does not come natural to me

[Heiny]

On my forum you'll find 3 of the 4 ways i know how to digitally paint illustrations....

If someone has remarks on the methods or has other ways feel free to comment on the site....
http://www.heiny.tk
You can go straight to the forum from there on... But at X-tra you'll find the other txt-link to the messageboard

[eyewoo]

Lee Yiankun... loved the gallery on your site. Very nice work!

Heiny... There are only four ways to paint digitally? I didn't know that...

[ May 16, 2002: Message edited by: eyewoo ]

[Asurfael]

Lee Yiankun, I'm pretty much doing the same. Oh and nice site you've got there

I started my digital art career trying to do cell shaded manga characters. Now I'm trying to get a more natural feeling to my drawings. I like to use photoshop, and try to get my drawings to look digital but yet hand-made. sort of like it was done using some traditional medium, but you're not sure which one... That's my goal.

[Heiny]

Hi Eyewoo... I only said I know 4 ways of coloring.... There could be many more

[Joachim]

I prefer photoshop. For me, I regulary use digital from after the sketch and further. For me I only use the digital medium because for me it's easier and quicker-especially when it comes to fixing and changing. But, painting digital seems easier and quicker than it is, because there's no preparation before you start, but when you look at it, it can sometimes be more painful as well. Because it's easy to get some effects in, but hard to keep something simple and effectful but still not sketchy and ugly digital. But, with traditional mediums, there seem to be millions of ways and techniques to get the right feeling and effects which actually don't just look cheezy, because of the limitations. So, most of the time I like the end result of traditional mediums more.
But, back to the subject I don't think it is a mystery that you can work from start to end in phshop. Atleast I only require a brush which you can change size on, and a tablet with pressure opacity while painting, so you feel what you are doing in your hand - but this has to be without lagging and the instant reaction. Just make sure I think and plan out what I'm doing befor & while I work. But, I guess this is individual as always.

The cliche answer would be, it's not the tools that makes the man

[eyewoo]

Heiny ... ...just having some fun...

[Lee Yiankun]

Thank you!I'm glad you like my site.

Eyewoo, you draw straight from scratch right?
Man, that's way better than me. I've been trying to do that for a while now. But I can't get a good looking picture done with it. I've only been able to draw in PaintBBS or practicing Speed paintings.

Did I mention I like your tutorial very much?(I actually learned a new technique from it!)

[eyewoo]

Thanks Lee...

"..draw straight from scratch.." -- If you mean do I start a picture from scratch on my computer... yes, that's what I do. I also use a simple tracing technique to lay down the inital composition. I rarely do any pencil drawings any more... actually getting pretty rusty at it, but it doesn't bother me at all. I sometimes dream about taking off on a vaction to some beautiful place one day with just my pencils and sketch pads... get back into the groove... but then I snap back to reality and think... I'll just wait for my dream laptop with goobs of RAM, LCD screen that can be seen in daylight, and a nice small tablet attached... digital plein aire... One day, eh!

[ May 16, 2002: Message edited by: eyewoo ]

[colonel kurtz]

I usually start with a scanned sketch in photoshop. Sometimes though I just start making random jestures in photoshop and go from there. I must say that with the new brush settings in photoshop 7 and stuff I am having to devote a whole lot of time to experimenting. Getting some interesting results though.

[J. Tsang]

i have been spending some times in ps7 these days and found that it has improved quite alot. despite the amazing 'healing tool', the brush does surprised me. i guess adobe finally notice how their brush was falling behind painter7's brushes.
in ps7, we get more control of the brush. now it can sense the presure applied by the pen, and adjust darkness of the paint. this is similar to painter7's 'brush' tool (there are many brushes in painter, and one of them is called 'brush').
i am very impressed with ps7. although it's not good for a single company to dominate the digital art field, i must admit that ps7 really beats up painter this time. i dont think many ppl will ever use painter again unless one really wants those fancy brush effects it provides.
personally, i wouldn't use painter too often since ps7 came out, because now ps7 and painter7 shares the same brush but ps7 has a more powerful 'selection' and 'mask' tool, which i think it's very important in digital painting and editing.