[coolmanmatt]

Hey guys, finally got my server online, damn router messed me up but hey, I'm new to this digital art stuff; accually art in general so expect more works to come and updates to match! C&C greatly appreciated ...



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-Matt

[Edix]

Hi matt

Im newish to this too but if u check out the tutorial links there are many great tips and tricks

[Merystic]

why are the glasses outlined, and nothing else?
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"Dreams are necessary to life." --Anais Nin

[AndyT]

The bright background bothers me. I wouldn't use white like that.
I agree with Edix ... you might want to look at tutorials to find a good approach.
No matter what style you want to go for you should try to define the shapes using light and shadow better.
Did you work from life, reference or imagination?
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[coolmanmatt]

Yeah, I used a reference, I mean I'm just starting out later on I won't need one but here he is, kinda small sorry...

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-Matt

[AndyT]

I see.

Well I guess you should copy more accurately then.
Draw exactly what you see even if it doesn't make logical sense.

Maybe convert it to grayscale then you don't have to worry about colors.
I think this is a good tutorial because it mentions many important things.
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/tut_learn.php
The lighting in your image is pretty complicated and not what I would start with.

If you want to be able to come up with your own stuff you should look at the cube exercise and read about art theory.
But that is optional if you just draw/paint for fun.
http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=34787

Keep it up!
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[coolmanmatt]

naw, it goes beyond for fun definitely, right now I just gotta get the techniques down to a science... updates to come....
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-Matt

[Matthew]

hey matt.

I tried to do an overpaint to show you one way to make a picture, it�s not perfect but the main values are there.
It�s important to find the key values within the picture, the ones that define the color in the piece and makes the mood for your painting.
I added a picture with arrows that shows some of those values that are important in this specific picture, at least what I think is important values.
As you can see in the picture the eyes white values aren�t that bright at all, in fact they tend to be more of a dark grey.
In one of the eyes a highlight can be seen which tend to be a darker value of grey, so not white, and in the other eye the light doesn�t hit the iris which means there are no highlight there.
What I have learned about using reference is that you shouldn�t copy the picture straight away from the picture, you can simplify instead, which means if you have a picture of a shirt and there are a lot of folds and stuff on the shirt you don�t have to copy them straight away to retrieve all of those folds, you just simplify and choose to add some of them. That is one way to see it anyway.

I am not a good teacher so I hope some of it helped, nice ref btw, it gave me some inspiration before I will hit the bed soon. :)

The stuff that Andy said here is also very good, in the beginning maybe it helps more with just copy the picture straight off but do remember later on that a wise reference user doesn�t copy the picture 100%.
Ah yea I almost forgot. Spooge Demon gave me the tip to draw eye-sockets instead of finished eyes in the beginning when an artist is trying to learn and get better. That means that you only apply one value of shadow in the hole where the eyes is placed instead of painting the iris and the rest of the eye.






Let me know if I should explain some things any further.
see you
Matthew

[coolmanmatt]

Yes that's rad, I mean definate style indeed, but still I gotta couple questions... When painting the colours do you set color change to pen pressure or do you only use a single color and adjust using the palette for highlights, midtones and shadows?(obviously you using varying opacties)but what about varying flow too ? By the way you painting is rad! Thank you all for the tips I love this communtiy:lol: better than any art class 4 sure!
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-Matt

[Tinusch]

Matthew's got the right idea. I think you could go even further, squeezing out as much color from that ref as possible. Example: There's some rich reddish tones on his left side (our right), and some bold pink areas around the nose and mouth, Color variations like those really liven up the image. As for your technique questions... There's no right way, but general consensus is that you should start with the very basic colors before you begin with any details or "noodling." Get the big picture down first. And at this point in your artistic career, think less about color and more about structure. I think it was jr who said, "Think scuplture!" Break this guy down into his basic forms: scuplt him. Then think about how the light is going to affect each of his different geometric shapes and planes. I think that's probably your biggest obstacle at this point, judging from the image. He looks a little amorphous, and his features are all slightly askew.

[Tinusch]

Craig's going to have a heart attack if he sees me showing this as an example, but it's the best I can do... Just an example to show you another way of looking at this guy. Not as a bunch of colors, but as a living sculpture.

[Matthew]

matt, I am glad you liked it. :)
I usually paint with the flow 50 and change the opacity along the way, starting out with 50 in opacity and then go down to 20 sometimes. It was mainly 50 for this one with a little bit of 20 when I made the background which is a little bit smoother. A single color mode was used, normal, and then you start to add different colors as in the reference.
When I am making a finished piece I usually sketch up with 50 in opacity to refine the colors with 100 in opacity, that way you get clear and nice colors. After that I�ll go back with the 50 brush to later on keep decreasing until you have a smooth color surface.
Let me know if anything was unclear cause I don�t explain that well sometimes. :)

Tinusch, I really like that one, I have started to like Simplified pictures more than very detailed pictures. Don�t know if you know about Karl Isakson but he simplified in both form and colors and I started to think of his pieces when I saw yours here.

Later
Matthew

[Sublimo]

Very nice info from everybody, I'll post my garbage somewhere next week

Thanks !
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[RebbelX]

it also depends on what style your going for because thees painting, vector art, and ermmm i guess coloring which is a more blended look then painting...... the best painting tutorial is on this site its the armored man tutorial thats actualy how i learned it color....

the main tools u would end up using with coloring is the airbrush or paintbrush also the burn and dodge tool, different eraser brushes, and layer properties like multiply.......

[coolmanmatt]

-Alright I'm just givin' er on this; I mean I'm still abit sketchy with the tools but hey practice makes perfect, right now he doesn't even look like him... (more to come!!! )
-He looks quite different than before! Eyes hella need work oh well....

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-Matt

[coolmanmatt]

Little color tweaking, looked so washed out before...

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-Matt

[coolmanmatt]

The old guy's coming along slowly...

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-Matt