[m0u53m4t]

I've seen the kinda stuff you do on here and I'm very impressed but have no idea where to begin. Here's a basic doodle I have:

I have photoshop by the way. How would I go about making it look... rendered... if you know what I mean?

Edit: I just messed around and got to this, but I really need help:

[Helmi]

Sorry, I couldn't resist. It was just shouting out to me for it

[m0u53m4t]

So I'm guessing you just made a new layer and went over the image. How do I make it look more like cloth kinda thing now?

[Sumaleth]

Use reference:

http://images.google.com/images?q=cloth%20hat&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=witches+hat

Try to understand why the surface looks like it does as you're painting it. Things like colors, where the highlights are and how large they are, sharp features, etc.
_________________
Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials

[m0u53m4t]

Ok, so even if I know what I kinda want it to look like, what do I do next? Get a texture or what?

[faeklone]

Okay, you have your sketch. Sumaleth sent you references for hats. Now you use that reference, along with some kind of lighting reference for where you wnat your light to be coming from. The best bet for this piece would be a cone of some kind. Even if you have to take a piece of paper and roll it up into a cone and then take a lamp or a flashlight to light it.

From there you can begin to give it a basic feel of what it's going to look like in the end, preferrably by using a larger bruch to get the light and dark areas of the picture down. Also remember to develop the background at the same time. If you look at your fiddling around with photoshop you will notice that your hat is floating in place. Unless you want that effect, and can explain it in the picture in some way, it's not a good thing.

I would get some references of folded cloth too. In your sketch it looks like you wanted something like that. Again, the reference can be as simple as a towel or a shirt with a light being shined on it.

So from the basic values you start to go in tighter, maybe definging folds here and there in the hat. When it looks about right, find a reference for the texture you want the hat to be, and try and draw it in with a smaller brush. The colours you use shouldn't really affect the overall look of the hat, but just make it look more in focus. Using textures on something like this would be fairly time consuming due to all the folds and changes in direction of the cloth.

Basicially what I'm trying to tell you is that it's a long process, and it's an even longer one to make it look really good. But if you're comitted to it keep it up and you will be rewarded.
_________________
"It's not the tools you use but how you use them that counts."