[Alloy]

I saw Craig Mullins mention this, and I agree, but I'm curious, for a lot of these paintings, especially the quick ones that have a "painterly" look in photoshop, how do you go about setting up appropriate brushes, utilizing appropriate pressure/opacity(depending on airbrush or paintbrush) and so forth. Someone wants to paint an apple for example, their only medium is photoshop and that is all they are learning on - how would some of the more seasoned artists on this board start that apple...first stroke, second stroke...so forth. Maybe about 2-3 screen shots going from very start, getting there, and done would be helpful. Keep in mind, this isn't for "finished" or photo realistic pictures. This is for quick sketches where form, value and mood are most important. The sheer basics of painting on the medium that is your computer.

[Ian Jones]

I am no expert, however.

Craig Mullins said: "Drawing first. If you get nothing else right, get the drawing at least ballpark."

I understand the problem with this statement though, from a newbie's perspective (thats me too!). The important thig to note is what he says next.

"Whether you are using soft fuzzy areas of colour or hard comic outlines, drawing is still the beast."

Now coming to your problem, where exactly to start within photoshop. Well it depends on the above statement. How do you draw? and how do you want to draw? you say painterly so I am going to assume that you mean a style similar to that of Mullins where you rarely see drawn outlines, instead they are blocks of colour that define the shapes.

Mullins draws by placing a shape of colour, using say a 'large paintbrush with hardish edges, opacity etc..' (I don't know exactly)and he admits that he has trouble drawing outlines with a Wacom, so to counter this problem he "pushes and pulls" the outline. If he paints a shape that is to big on one side, then he simply paints right over that side with whatever should be in the background.

It would be easier to understand this if we were talking without colour. You can draw with a black pen on a white page, but you can also draw with a white pen on a black page. Some ppl use a combination. If you wanted to draw a black square on a white page, you could for example draw a black blob first, then refine its shape by using white. See my point?

I can't give you a definite answer 'Step-by-Step'. But hopefully you should be able to just do it yourself now that you know a little more about that painterly style and why it looks that way.

I hope that helps..

[Socar MYLES]

Well, these are two images I did for a tutorial that'll be in a print magazine of sorts that renderosity.com is putting out for their members. The particular image I used has fairly flat objects (a funny-looking clock), but I did put some brushes and brush-strokes on the side, which might interest you.






[ December 10, 2001: Message edited by: Socar MYLES ]