[tayete]

I am just wondering how is it possible to Enayla to soften so much her wonderful pictures, in Photoshop.
I mean. Corel Painter offers you many good smoothing and smudging brushes, but Photoshop has a real lack (IMHO) of those tools.

Is there any special technique to smooth with a brush in Photoshop without using the lame Smudge?
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[amichaels]

You might be able to blend using a fuzzy brush at a low opacity with a color in between the two you are wanting to blend. I actually don't use blenders in Painter and opt for the low opacity brush blending instead. I'm not sure how Enayla does it though.

[Enayla]

I don't really smudge much these days :]

Technique is more based on using a speckled brush and low opacity, with soft pressure, layering it up until it's soft enough, and then using soft round brushes, or hard edged round brushes on top :)

Smudge tool is rather clumsy, yes, and it tends to make the pictures look a little blotchy.

(ironically, I did a tutorial today for my brother concerning this matter... but it's in Swedish :/)
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[tayete]

Wow, thanks a lot Enayla! And Amichaels too of course!

Now it is much more clear to me.
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[Matthew]

Cool, I would love to see that tutorial. :)
btw Enayla I saw some of your latest stuff over at Cgchat, some really impressive stuff. :)

see you
Matthew

[amichaels]

I started off using a blender brush that came with a book on Painter techniques I had bought, but everything was coming out looking terrible. I think I read a tutorial from the post here with a bunch of links and discovered the secret to not smudging. Happy painting!

[Lee Yiankun]

I agree with not using smudging.(or the burn tool or filters). It really hampers your progress.

[amichaels]

When I stopped smudging and started using low opacity brushes, I felt like I had unlocked some Zen secret of art.

[liv the fish]

Enayla kind of hit on a good method for using the smudge tool as a blender. Instead of using a brush with a solid center, I've been using speckled and donut brushes. Set these to low presure and I have a good way to blend colors. I have one I call orbit; it's just a bunch of dots in a circle shape and it does really well on low pressures. I've set some Tool Presets so I can instantly grab any pressure and shaped blender that meets my needs.

I also like Enayla's method, but it doesn't do exactly the same thing. I might try a combination of both. I think that'll give some interesting results.

later,
Brian
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[lel]

[Derek]

One thing to remember about tools such as smudging, blur, unsharp mask etc... at any time you start to use one, you have to stop for a minute and consider why you are doing it.

Once you lay your paint, ahem, down, you should fuss with it as little as possible. If you feel the need to go in and correct, adjust, noodle, then you are probably being ineffective when you first lay the color in there. Think about why you are doing it, and a more substantial way to get the result, then leave the area alone.

Using lower opacity brushes is a good equivalent to a more deft stroke, or more considered mark-making. Remember, in time your goal is to think your way through the work and make those marks which are beautiful and meaningful (regardless of your subject). Then, and only then, will the freshness and vitality of the piece stay apparent to your viewer, and add to their ability to read and appreciate what you've done.

Get off the digital crutches and paint goddammit! Or something...
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