[SMXL2k]

I suck, I can't seen to get the right style down. I dunno, I can't seem to get the right idea. I need some good tutorials, unfortunatly I am too poor to get a Wacom product, but I like the style. If theres a way to do it with a mouse please do tell. Anything would be stylin. Thanks!

[Snake Grunger]

Why are you saying a wacom pad will make you a better artist? It will only make you only more productive.. Nothing more.

[Rinaldo]

Yup, Mr Mullins used a mouse for a lot of his old stuff......looks pretty good to me.
If you dunno what I'm on about go to http://www.goodbrush.com

Wacom is better but not neccessary to start with. You have to be able to understand a lot of the blocking, colour, and value, stuff that is talked about on this Forum to use both. Depending on what you want to draw of course. try to eplain more about your situation as opposed to saying that you suck. show a failed attempt or something. It is very hard to respond to this sort of comment because of its generic nature. there are so many "I suck tell me how to be good in ten easy steps" posts, it is hard to know weather the person is genuine or just looking for a the elusive tutorial in the sky. Which is of course, to much dissapontment: draw, draw, draw, and then do it some more

[SMXL2k]

Sorry, I should of worded it better. I can pencil draw just fine. I do that a lot. What I am looking for is a tutorial or process of which someone does the fine detail, getting nice glows like on the Jack picture dhabih did. The proper tools to use, I know I use the Smudge, Dodge and Burn mostly. I don't think its the right way to go, just looking for some tips maybe more then a cry for "help me be a good artist".

[SMXL2k]

heres something that i was working on then stoped.

[SMXL2k]

plz help...

[Rinaldo]

Well I use just the round brushes, If you don't have Wacom then use the number keys to change opacity. it goes up in 10% incraments. The most important thing is to establish a shape (as far as I'm concerned anyway) The key is to get the colours right first and the base shapes that comprise your subject. don't go into detail until you have got what you want in the shapes. I don't usuialy use the size option on the wacom. set up a bunch of brushes that go up in size so you have a good choice. then use the [ and ] keys to cycle between the bruches. have both feathered and hard brushes. the blending modes for the brushes are also importand, Darken lighten, screen, multiply, I use a lot. It's hard to explain what they do but it is explained in the manuial and you can play around with them. I sometimes use disolve to put in a bit of texture and then work over it. It is also a good idea to make a few custom brushes (it should explain how in the manual) not so much for painting in my experiance but for sort of stamping. get a nice splotch (scan it or draw it, and them make a brush out of it. brushes are greyscale so you aren't limited to solid shapes. the blending modes can be found by right clicking, a list will apear chose what you want. use alt+left click to select colours from what you are working on. this only works when you are using a brush and it turns your cursor into an idropper momentarily. it is the trick to mixing colours, put a colour down run over it with another colour at what ever opacity you want then select the result. have a look at this forum, a lot of advice has been given out and shared already.
To get those smooth transitions go over with a smudge if you want and kill off the hard tranitions, I usuialy use an airbrush, simply by preferance instead. play around with the brush settings like spacing. they will dramaticaly change what happend when painting.
Have fun, it is a totaly different way of going about things. especialy if you have only been using pencil. it is more akin to painting than drawing.
Any more Qs? just shout out I suppose but I think you will find that most of your queries will have been answered here in the past.
on craig Mullins' site (his nik is Spooge demon on here) there are some good tutorials and also some quicktimes showing how he does some of his stuff.
Get a Wacom as soon as possible it will help you a lot.

(just don't post a "what tablet should I get" subject. it is asked so often and people are sick of it. look at past posts and see what other people have said. use the search on this site to find stuff, it works most of the time.)

[Thorn]

SMXL2K, if you have the money, buy the PS WOW book thats out. Its very good, and the info they give is for artists. Once you have a good understanding of ALL the tools, then you can experiment and develop your own preferred techniques or process that suits your particular style of art. That's the thing with PS, its like any other art tool, there are many ways of doing different things, and some will suit you better than others.

Thats my suggestion, I suppose, start broad and experimental, play around a lot, and then refine your techniques until you feel comfortable your approach is giving you the outcome you're after.
And remember, have FUN!!

[Rinaldo]

Are you talking about the one Danny did?
He might see this and give you lots o' information. But in case he doesn't I'll have a go at explaining as far as my understanding of it goes.

Basicaly I think he used to work in very low resolution, where he was working pixel by pixel. he is very, very, good at detail. and I would imagine that he would be doing a lot of that finer stuff on a pixel or very close to level. this means zoooooomin' up a lot and pushing actuial pixels around.
There are no real techniques to colour transitions so to speak. Chossing the right colour will probably get you most of the way there. if you have a look at spooges stuff. you can see that if you get the right colour then it is a lot easier.
work in the highest resolution you can and zoom up. your not so smooth transition will become a lot smoother once you zoom back up.
I'm probably not helping much here am I?

Anyway, I agree with Thorn in that I described only my way of doing things. But those techniques should suffice.

Your probably sick of me now so I'll stop talking.

[spooge demon]

I think what Rinaldo told you was too advanced. The drawing is not correct in either pic. That is the most important part. You have to fix that first.

Once you have your basics down, the technique I would suggest block in your basic values with flat color first. Then use a paintbrush at 2-3% opacity and model the forms veeeery slowly. This can be done with a mouse easily. Danny may do things differently.

But again, technique is not your problem.

[SMXL2k]

What do you mean the drawing isn't correct in either pic?

[Rinaldo]

Whilst not attempting to cover spooge's back, I did notice that the hips on your figure were too small.
Usuialy a woman has a pear shaped figure while a man has an inverted pear shape.

[SMXL2k]

Ya, she has no right hip, thats fixed :P

[Anthony]

SMXL2k: I'm reading a touch of resentment at Spooge and Rinaldo's suggestion that you need to improve your drawings. If that's the case, you'd be smart to forget all that and just be humble about it. Accept that there are people around, and here, that are way better on all fronts. If you ask nicely, people will help you become better. I couldn't want better teachers than I have right here. No one will ever "master" drawing, so you should always be eager to improve!

------------------
-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

[SMXL2k]

huh? I was more and greatful for their help, it actually help me improve quite a bit. They showed me how to do what i wanted to for a basic start. Like spooges's arthur. Now that i have that down, and I thank you guys again, i am still looking for some good pointers on taking it into far greater detail! when i do a good project, i'll probably work a little more on the drawing part, but not for crappy little sketches, though i intake the critique and i always watch out with my next drawing.

thanks!

[SMXL2k]

Couple more Qs.

I'm really intrested in learning how that Tomb Raider picture was done. Ya I know i'm far away from that kind of picture. But i'm intrested in how the color binding, and the detail was added. I played around with the things Rinaldo told me, and thats all pretty basic stuff. Looking for some tips on the color blending, like again on the tomb raider picture, how the awsome transition from the skin to the lips was done. Thats probably the stuff I am having the most trouble on.

This is my new project



Thanks