[jfrancis]

When I painted the above, I did the gooseneck by making a single stroke with a big round hard brush on its own layer. Then I locked transparency and painted into that.

I feel like this is a method I can't (don't want to) rely on for everything.

To make the lamp shade, I laid down an ellipse, angled it, copied it to another smaller one, and hand connected the two ellipses. Here again I used the transparency lock trick to maintain the edge when I hand painted the interior color.

How do you attack straight hard edges?

Freehand and more patience?

Masks?

Pen tool?

encil and paper and scanner?

Single confident strokes?

Dab the pen in two places and let Photoshop connect the dots?

Loosen up; Straight lines are overrated?

I think this issue might be easier for me in Painter because I can roll the canvas to a more convenient angle and just freehand it.

[Matthew]

if you ask me I would say experiment more and you will find out what works the best for you. Maybe make a one second stroke and stay with it instead of noodling the same ellipse back and forth.
If you want the focus on painting do not work in layers cause it will only hold you back later on, of course only my opinion but you do not have layers that you can undo on a canvas, right?
Straight lines assuming u mean the edgeiness are overrated, yes, especially if you work in big resolutions cause then it will not show up that much anyway.

ohh, maybe not the answer you want.

here's a five second scribble of yours, if I have had worked in a bigger res some of the edginess would not be visible, like in the ellipse of the lamp and such.


keep it up
Matthew

[sweetums]

I would make a scalloped custom brush for the outside edges, make a selection with the lasso tool, and then stroke it with the custom brush.

I would then paint relevant highlights and linework to complete the effect.
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[balistic]

for sharp silhouettes I am all about layers and erasers.
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[neff]

i agree to balisitc...
and yes, high resolutions if possible
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[Hash]

Get the shapes and lines right in Illustrator or Draw, then use that as a mask or guide in PS.

That said, I rarely bother with perfect lines unless necessary.

[jfrancis]

Same lamp. Same dark room. Lamp is aimed at a Starbucks cup. There is a tape dispenser next to it.

I thought I'd try this approach --

Use the line and ellipse tools to rough in a layout, and then paint over that.

[jfrancis]

[eyewoo]

Looks like its going quite well...
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[jfrancis]

Thank you. I should be developing the whole picture all at the same time.

I know better than to noodle one area while neglecting all the others -- and yet I can't seem to stop myself.

[jfrancis]

[jfrancis]

I'm looking at it on another monitor. It looks brighter than I thought in some places. I wonder which one is "right"

[eyewoo]

Check out this gamma test picture... You should be able to read all the numbers except for 36.



If not, adjust your mintors brightness/contrast or fool around with your gamma settings.

I'm not much more technical than that... maybe someone else has better advice.
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[jfrancis]

Thanks for the chart.

That's how I see it at home. On Monday I'll check it out on my office monitor where I painted it.

[Godwin]

Just something, how do you draw lined ellipses? I never found out how ever since Photoshop 6, it's become quite a hassel to create circular shapes for the texturing work I do for mods...

And that's looking pretty good, I'm just here to pick up tips too heh, none to offer, but usually I just rework and rework if it isn't straight or the way I want it heh
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[jfrancis]

Godwin -- lined ellipse? Like what I did above? I made a circular selection, then I transformed the selection to the squash and tilt I wanted, then I stroked it with Edit > stroke

[Godwin]

ah yes, stroke, right, gotta try that heh, thanks
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[johanng]

Hi JFrancis thanks for replying to my post. Maybe I can try and help here though I do not presume to teach anything just wanted to lay my prattle into the pot. When I think about it I just don't see how you would be able to make a perfect line with a tablet without a lot of practice, its something I haven't heard about anyone being able to do but I suppose there is a graphic superman out there. What I have done with the little experience that I have gathered is simply following one advice in a tutorial I read somewhere, that is that guy that wrote it, don't remember who it was anymore but he adviced that the tablet simply wasn't something that you use in substitute for a traditional pencil for example. Thus if you want a straight line draw it with a pencil and scan it in. Hope this was helpful. Oh and thanks again for posting it "really" was helpful, I hit a damn block that isn't there anymore because of helpful people like you. Well anyway enough arse kissing for now!
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[johanng]

Ok I just noticed my over use of smileys. Someone slap me in the head please!
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[Dekard]

If you are just trying to get a straight line in ps as well you can use shift click..


hold shift down click at the starting point, then click again at the ending point of the line you'd like to create and vioila a perfectly striaight line.. O_o..

I know that's not what you were asking but looked like it from the title..
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[jfrancis]

Maybe shift click is what I should use.

I'll try that some more. Thanks, everyone.