[Fred Flick Stone]

Here is a tutorial I wrote about a year ago and have done nothing with it for a while. Take and do with it what you want, Its a long one, there will be many posts to get it all up...hope it works out well


ALL FEEDBACK FROM EVERYONE PLEASE. I AM TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER AN ART INSTRUCTIONAL SITE AND THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT GETTING A SOLID TUTORIAL TOGETHER.

THANK YOU ALL FOR TAKING TIME TO PICK IT APART>>>

FRED

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RJL

[Fred Flick Stone]

Part 2



part three coming up[/img]
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[Fred Flick Stone]

part 3


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[Fred Flick Stone]

part 4

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[Fred Flick Stone]

Part 5

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[Fred Flick Stone]

Part 6
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[Fred Flick Stone]

part 7

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[Fred Flick Stone]

Part 8

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[Fred Flick Stone]

Part 9




Thats it...have fun, email me if you have any questions. Or post replies here...thanks again...

Fred[/img]
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RJL

[Drunken Monkey]

I am gonna be reading and re-reading this for the next couple of hours. Thank you for doing this, this is an awesome guide!

I just started with gouache this week and am very curious of anything more you have to say about color theory. Kind of surprised to see Red and Blue vs Magenta and Cyan.
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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity" - Sigmund Freud

[SqueakyWaffle]

This looks like the most helpful guide I've seen so far, thanks. You rock....

I'm still struggling with technique, so this should help me out quite a bit....

[AliasMoze]

Well, just scanning through the text, I conclude that this is the best digital painting tutorial I've seen. The image you picked is perfect for this IMO, and the tutorial is technical, the kind of thing that helps the most. You answer lots of questions for inexperienced painters like me about color, value, and intensity and how they all fit together. Seeing such a fine result, of course, also adds a great deal of credibility to the tutorial.

If this is going on a site, the thing I'd change is the presentation. Either plain HTML (using stylesheets) or even Acrobat format is great for these things. The bitmap text simply can't be copied and pasted. And, and this is just a minor thing, I'd left-justify the text to make it easier to read.

But, finally, it's a wonderful tutorial, immensely educational, and I thank you for spending the time to do this.

[Drunken Monkey]

That was awesome. So methodic. Thanks again. Gonna try this with gouache.
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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity" - Sigmund Freud

[Radiater]

Great tutorial, thanks for posting it.

I just have one more suggestion about the text - please change it from white on black. The contrast is hard on the eyes when reading it on a computer monitor, and you get a 'burnt image' on the retina. The burnt image makes it much harder to then view you picture stage to see what you mean.

Radiater
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Radiater

[Anthony]

Not a day back on the forum and he's already posting wonderful tutorials. Its just like old times.
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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem
http://www.anthonyfransella.com

[-HoodZ-]

AAAUUGH NOOO! im getting a X

EDIT: i see it now! THNX FFS!

[jHof]

Why so small Awesome work!

And just to help Illustrate his point about seeing color as value:

Here is the photo reference Fred Flick used.



Here is his painting.




You can see, he was very successful.

[oDD]

wow, its great. I read it but didn't understand few things but will try again later and then again and so on.. It answers many of my questions i had about painting. Thank you very much for puting your time in to it.

From the art point of view i don't got any sugestions but as it was said before, the form of a tutorial (that it's a few 300k pics with black bg and white text ) is not so good idea. If you don't have time to make it in a form of html file you can post the content in plain txt and i'm sure someone will do it for You. hell , even i can do it.
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[AndyT]

That's great. I think the explanations are easy to understand (and my English sucks). Thank you very much for taking the time and sharing!
You wrote that there will be more tutorials!? Will those and the Basic Shapes Stuff be hosted on you new site?

Maybe if it isn't inconvenient at all I'd put some of the explanations (for example of middle and low key) in a seperate tutorial and include a read that one first disclaimer. Right now there's too much secondary information IMHO. I don't want to sound ungrateful though. This is one of the best tutorials I've seen!
I just think it's strange how there are basic and advanced elements. I think it doesn't read as fluently as it could.
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[LoTekK]

Fan-frigging-tastic!
I've been dormant on these forums for the past couple months, but i come back and what do I get? Ron's posting again! I've seen some old posts from him (most notably the joint tutorial with Craig), but I joined well after his long hiatus, unfortunately enough.

The tutorial is great. No crits other than what's already been brought up. And jHof's little grayscale conversion of the pics really blows me away.

Can't wait to see the finished instructional site.

[Max]

I can't tell you how useful this is for me.
Thank you so much for doing this for us!!!

[Reakshun]

You've just digitally elevated me, 1000 times! My skin is pulsating, muscles expanding, fingers becoming brushes...the world will be mine!!!! (LOL)

Seriously though, nice tute...some of these ideas I've been finding on my own experimenting but you've summed it simply.

I also understand why you used such a small picture...to stay simple and just pay attention to the graphic nature of shapes and value.

I don't know you like many others on the forum, but I will say welcome back and thanx for sharing information. Because, really, that's why we have these gifts...to not only showcase, but share. That's a real artist right there!

Good lookin' out!

[Jaymo]

Such professional content deserves a professional presentation!

I would also suggest you publish this great tutorial in HTML text, not as a bitmap, which is huge filesizewise, hard to read and gives bad printresults (and since the bg is black, it's a printercartridge-hog). Or maybe you could provide a PDF-file...

Aside from that, thanks a bunch for the knowledge-injection!

[jasonN]

Thanks Ron, you being on this forums has really influenced my development as an artist (the head tutorial really helped me along). I'm forever in debted to you!

I agree with the white on black text being a little hard to read after a while. As for content, it's better than ever!

Thanks again!
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www.jasonink.net/journal

[Fred Flick Stone]

Hello again. Thanks for the responses, I will get to the individual comments in a moment. First, thank you for reading through the tutorial. I am going to technically change how you view the tutorial once I get it permanently hosted. This and the others I have generated, will be posted as downloadable PDF�s, as well as hypertext with images to accompany. This was all set up the way it is currently so I wouldn�t forget what to adjoin to each image. I call it all temporary, or in a temporary format, I need to make sure though, it reads easily, and makes sense. The idea is intuitive to me, so I am reading my own thoughts. But I take for granted sometimes, that I know this stuff, and when I explain it, I am running the risk of leaving out the key elements that make it so important to communicate correctly.
A huge problem I have had as of late, the lack of clear teaching in the art schools, including our own. The artist in training emulates the instructor very well, but cannot reach out in his own direction without misguiding himself into believing that the only way to really reach out is with my instructors way, because that is what he says. The beginning of every art class should start with a huge disclaimer of, what you will hear �today is mostly personal jabber, with a bit of art instruction, I will note the points when I am about to state a fact��
I don�t mean to bag on art instruction, as there is a growing wave of artists who are seeking the truth, and returning it to the general art community. The real truths of art are difficult to find, at least in these days, unless you have been pointed in that general direction by someone, or just know deep down inside that this is the right way to think, to feel, to create.


Anyway, I am making every attempt to pass on what I am learning and instructing to everyone else out there as well. IT is important to grow the art community, and not backstab it blindsightedly, like so many artists will do to one another when jealousy erupts. I have a goal to see that others learn that there is a greater responsibility in learning art than the art schools offer us, but it is learned, and it has to be trained. I will make every attempt to help point a finger in that direction, and I hope a host of others will eventually step in to continue the traditions. Traditional art is really foundation to seeing the �right� way, as the visual senses have to have some order like the other senses are guided to understanding. Music has order, singing, oration, surface texture has order to it, the tactile arts, cooking, machining, etc. It all has order. Art does too. What you do with that order of guidance, tools, not rules, will reflect on whether you are creating art, creating commerce with visuals, or guiding visually-spiritually, emotionally, or instructionally. Once you know the ways, you bend the ways, and it will work with meaning, as once we learn what the meaning is, we are the masters of �Meaning�.

Soap boxing, sorry�

Dr. Monkey- glad to see you eagerly delving into color. The CMYK approach is very helpful in color mixing, and painting in a limited palette. It is also a system that will allow you to paint every color into your painting and confidently know that it will reproduce 100% like how you see it on your board. Post some of the guaoche paintings you do when you finish them�

Squeakywaffle-thank you, and if you have any confusion about what I have written, post here again with the questions and I will gladly answer them next I log on�

AliasMoze-thank you very much for the high praise. I am working on bettering the documentation of it as I mentioned above, that is next for sure�

Radiater-I don�t want to be held accountable for burning out your retinaes, so next time you see this tutorial posted, it will be white on black�the other eye burner:)

Anthony-well, not quite like old times, but close enough. This time, I cant correct 200 posts�it has to be a bit simpler. And until I am web connected again at home, I am really at a loss to help out with critiquing. Anyway, thank you again�and look for the next one coming asap�

Hoodz-hope it helps�

jHof-thanks, sorry the images are small, I had no idea how else to compile everything for a quick dump. Thanks for the side by side, I really snuffed the beautiful curve that hut had in it, oh well, for a tutorial, it works, and no one can say I �traced� heheh

oDD-thank you and thanks for your offer. I may have to take you up on that if I cant get the time to finish it myself:)

AndyT-Thank you for the suggestions, I have been pondering a separate tutorial on the saturation levels of color(chroma) since it is its own animal�I try to make the advances stuff as basic as I can so that it can be understood by all. The idea of something being more advanced than not is just the order you learn it in. That is, color is usually one of the last things to learn in the order of events they should be placed in. First find form, and explore form in tone with charcoal, black and white paint, etc. Then work on value, once value is mastered, then perspective, atmosphere, same thing, then color is next�color needs to be learned separately from the other elements so you can concentrate totally on the aspect that color is value�and comprehend it without confusion�anyway�I am taking your suggestion to heart and will be doing more separate write ups on the color subject�

LoTekK-Thank you, I am glad I can get you some useful stuff, but I know guys like Loki and Sumaleth, and the rest of the locals are posting helpful stuff as well. And, I learn more checking out everyones approach sometimes more than a useful class with a meaningful instructor. This place is a wonderful growing experience for all artists�Thanks again and there are more in the cooker�

Max-your absolutely welcome�

Reakshun-thank you for the kind words and praise. That is why I went looking also, for the sharing experience. That is what I am all about, sharing�what I know, I will share, provided I know how to communicate it well�that is the biggest dilemma with so many, the lack of ability to communicate clearly�

Jaymo-thank you also, and yes, it will be published more professionally, asap�more to come, keep an eye out�thanks again.

jasonN-I hope you grow into the artist you always wanted to become. Keep your searching and always draw and paint as much as you can�that will help you grow more than anything else. Thanks for your kind words also�

Cant wait to see what you all produce�

IF THERE IS ANY QUESTION ABOUT WHAT WAS WRITTEN, WRITE INTO THIS THREAD AND I WILL ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE WHEN I AM HERE IN THE FORUMS�.THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT�


Fred
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RJL

[Spectra]

Very nice from you to share your knowledge, this is much appreciated!! Really!!

I started to read it at school (but the browser could not save the web page... for some reason.) Now from home, when i try to access your site, i got this damn bandwidth message

[juhis_r]

Hi Fred!

At first I want to thank you of the great tutorial which really opened my foggy eyes at some points. I try to improve my skills daily or as often as it's possible and devour information from the veteran artists by reading books and studying the paintings and drawings. Have to say that I have been interested about the color theory itself. I would like to ask what kind of books you have read and what are your recommendations? ( I mean those saturation levels of color, etc.. get I bit deeper... ) I have that problem because I have read quite many books which retell same smattering things. I guess that my resources have been pretty poor.

Also there are some more stupid little questions for you:

- What is your typical/averige starting resolution ( something like.. about ) when you use digital media ? ( PS. eg. - before you decrease it as a final image )

- And other question which came to my mind again is that have you ever wrote a tutorial about human skin tones and volymes in different lighting set? Any sort of? I would like to hear about it...

And finally, before I get answers and find out more questions, I want to say that 3D programs have been VERY good help and support. I have found many answers to perspective, lighting and composition things by using them - without forgetting to use own mind and brains as well.

Okay.. I will ask more after these..

Thank a lot.

- Juha
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http://paint.at/plumsgfx

[Fred Flick Stone]

Ok, the site is back up and running. You guys swamped it so hard, I had to buy an upgrade.

ANyway, Spectra, got the website running again, go grab what you need. and thanks for your interest.

juhis_r-Books, well, there aren�t many good ones to read up on the subject as comprehensively as I would like. There are some good color theory books relating to the science of color, but I have those titles elsewhere, and I don�t know how much they will help you immediately in your studies. First, let me stress that seeing color, is like working out muscles to stay in shape. The eye needs to be worked out to get the correct gauge on color complements, value adjustments, etc. Then, lots and lots of practice with real paint first. I find, the eye is tricked into seeing things that don�t exist if you practice from photos. That is, shadows are darker, values are tweaked for the pictorial content vs. the truth in nature.

Dan Mccaw has a book out called A Proven Strategy for Creating Great Art. He covers color theory slightly, but he is a colorist at heart and looking at his work will help recognize certain qualities color has to offer the artist. Look at any of SOrollas work. He is a famous Spanish painter that my mentor, Sebastian Capella studied under way back near the turn of last century. Actually, Sebastian studied from two diciples of Sorolla, both of which, in my opinion, were better than Sargent.

Now for what you called stupid questions, which really aren�t, they are just really technical.

First, I start at about what the average canvase would be, 11 x 17 or 9 x 12 to start with, at about 300 DPI 3300 x 5100 pixel count�on the 11 x 17

I work big, because these will be going into my portfolio, a hard copy, I need it to print well. So I work with a big file, then crunch em down as I need them. Sometimes, for speed sake, I work at 150 dpi, but rather large, so when it goes to print at an 8 x 10 image to print will look professionally finished, and not pixilated.

The flesh tones thing I will write something up tonight on it and post it in the morning, or on Wednesday. That is a great question, and the answer is, are you ready; there is none. Flesh is absorbent, it takes on many of the local color properties that would directly influence how you see the flesh tones. On average, if you are painting portraits, the idea would be to use some yellow, some red, and white, possibly a complement to keep the colors from looking too hot. That is the average Caucasian flesh tone. No specific yellow or red, just make sure they mix to make pleasing colors and not murky browns�

I agree, I use many 3 D shots to iron out complex perspective in the amount of time I need it to work for me, which is usually pretty damn fast. A day or two. But, for training, I always do exercises on paper to better train how I am seeing correct perspective.

Anymore questions, post away�

Thanks for asking�

Fred
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[AndyT]

Fred Flick Stone - Right! It's about the order you learn something in.
Actually I think the order you mentioned might be very helpful for me. I always thought the first things I should learn are perspective and anatomy. Tone and value later.
I know there are so many things I should look into but I don't know where to start. That keeps me from trying seriously I guess.

[juhis_r]

hey again..

AndyT: Well, I own those Loomis books. I have studied them through many times and wondered that stunning shading technique. Thanks anyway. It's absolutely nice to see that you want to help.

And Fred:

Thank you again. I really appreciate persons like you who has got artistry in their vains and who are motivated to give tips and help to the others. That's something special.

Okay. I guessed that you start at something that huge. I have had problems with bigger sizes because my monitor is only 17 inches and it's quite old. Normally I use resolution 1024x768 or 1280x1024.. no more. And still I have to say I have only one monitor in use. That's quite bad case but I try to get through. I will try to get inside the bigger canvases
and see out what's the result.

I highly agree your comments of using colors by digital. Those matters of weight you expressed at your painting tutorial. I bought my WACOM tablet ( the smallest one ) about year ago and I haven't done much using it. I have concentrated to doing art by traditional tools. I have an itch that it gives me more. I have also noted that I'm more concentrated on working itself when I paint or draw traditionally. It's easy to mess and experiment by digital. There are so many styles, layers, brush sizes, tones, tools, etc. to try and test. You can always return to the former point or level of your work. On the other hand, these are advantages and disadvantages at one and the same time.

To the other topics. Okay. Well, the flesh tones are pretty ambiguous case to talk about tones easily and quickly at a time. I can find to my delight that you can reommend the same colors as I use true to my habit. I have pointed out that something "flesh pink" and "raw sienna" are pretty good tones to get a groundwork or surface preparation. Sometimes I have tried to get nice tones using just those red and yellow saturated with white. It works nice and you get more living surfaces because of the different mixes on different areas on canvas / paper. It works just fine. The flesh tones come as bigger bother when I try to paint by computer and digitally. I think there are too many different tones and hues that things come too messy for me.

So that's why I would really like to see some tutorial about this topic. I read your older human head tutorials a few years ago and noticed that they were VERY rich in meaning. I actually don't know why but I haven't seen such clear tutorials from anyone else. That's just it. Try to say things as simply as possible.

And a few words more about 3D progs which I have used about 7 years or so. Yep. They can give you solutions and tips but they do not compensate your own world of ideas and the faculty of thought. For instance, the good point is to use them as testing method if you want to create something very complex. Or if you are drawing any architectural illustration and the perspective of the drawing itself is very special. Or something like this.. maybe then there is a sense to use them. Such happens..

Do I have anything else in my mind at this time of the day... umm... maybe there is but it doesn't want to see the daylight at the moment...

I'll wait for your flesh tone tutorial... and hey master, soon you can write a book or two.

Question: How did you practically do the SECOND step of the PART 6? I mean that "The idea is to ramp the values so that the graphic feeling..." -quotation? I couldn't take the point... sorry. I think my english meet its limits here.. ( in other words, how do you do it using PS tools? which tools and techniques? )

- Juha
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