[Edge]

Has anyone seen Dhabih's tutorial on digital painting? I tried his dodge and burn technique and I get spots showing up even though my exposure is low like 5-10%. Just in general how do you get that smooth transtion or gradient from dark to midtones or midtones to bright white. You can see it in his work and I know he uses dodge and burn but it just gets splotchy for me. I also tried applying color with a round soft brush in photoshop and then smudging. Problem is the color I apply looks marker like and the smudge doesnt fully blend it. Any suggestions or tips? Thanks all.

[Mikko K]

Uh, sounds like you are doing things in that damned way I did some five years ago. Don't rely on additive/multiplicative color like dodge and burn, because they will just complicate things so much.

I strongly suggest you try to hand pick colors, and mostly use normal type layers. I always used to make the problem about "what tools to use" instead of focusing on the picture, and it sounds like you're dealing with the same problem. Focus on what you want to do, not how to do it. Yeah, it takes time to learn your own digital style of working, but it's worth the practise.

[Edge]

Hmm, I guess you are right. So would you say that most of the work we see on this board and others like conceptart.org dont use manipulative tools like dodge and burn? Does dhabih even use it in recent work? What about opacity, I see alot of artists messing with the levels on that. Is there any rule or technique to that?

[bjotto]

opacity is just a way of blending colours, nothing wrong there. Dodge and burn can be used, but you won't learn much from it. I think it�s good to learn how to paint with just the basic stuff, eyecandy can allways be added later.t

[Impaler]

Dodge and burn is so 1997. You want multiply and screen.

Dhabih said long ago that he's stopped using dodge and burn, and instead switched to a more painterly approach mentioned by Mikko and epitomized by Craig Mullins. You would do well to attempt the same thing.

But enough soapboxes for me. There is no shortcut to learning how to paint digitally. I could tell you to use a 35% opacity paintbrush set to multiply to paint earth tones, but unless you have a solid familiarity with how the brushes work under your own hands, you're just going to end up with a bunch of featherbrushed ugliness.

So, learn Photoshop from your own experimentation. Make it your bitch. It takes time, effort and frustration, but it's worth it.
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[Mon]

[Mikko K]

[eyewoo]

A computer is not a traditional painting tool. There has never been anything like it in the history of art. It is a new medium. Being painterly is a good goal, but when using the digital medium, that doesn't necessarily mean working in a traditional painterly way. For gradients, check out how to use the selection tool and layers.



1) The object, on its own layer...
2) make a selection with the seletion tool.
3) Use Ctrl-J to bump the selected area onto its own layer and darken it.
4) Use the erase brush at a very low opacity to erase part of the darkened layer.

This method works particularly well on a textured object.

When using a textured erase brush, a nice texture can also be added to the darkened layer as it is erased.

For highlights, do the same thing, but lighten the new layer rather than darken it.
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[jfrancis]

This relates a bit to the discussion on layers

[PhatTexta]

[Drew]

[Edge]

Thanks for the info everyone. I am going to try some of the tips here, mainly layers and avoid forcing the use of dodge and burn as a primary shading tool. Eyewoo, I'm wondering if you can do your technique in reverse by painting at a low opacity a broad darker tone then gradually using a smaller brush paint a darker stroke where the light doesnt hit? And Drew yeah I been using a smaller brush I am trying a larger brush on a very very light opacity and it does help. Seriously though thanks for the info, Being kind of new to this I thought what Dhabih had in his tutorial was a very common way of painting. Im looking at digital painting from a different persepective now.

[Warhead82]

Stay away from burn and dodge!!
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When you look at a blank canvas or drawing paper, it stares you in the eyes and thinks it can beat you.~ Justin Beckett