Sijun Forums :: View topic - How do you get your tablet pictures so SHARP?

CeRbErO · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 1:11 pm

You guys working with tablets...
How do get your pictures so sharp? I mean, even if you (some, at least) work in the same resolution as the final pic, it still has that wonderful sharp feeling to it. How do you do that.
I bought a tablet (Graphire USB) today, so i'm trying to learn the techniques.

Also, i'm wondering if anyone would be willing to host my website on their server. It's kinda dull when you run out of space on some of the big spamming-sites (xoom, etc...)

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Edited by CeRbErO - http://cerbero.cjb.net

Affected · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 2:26 pm

I've found that doing the initial phases with hard brushes helps a lot. I only use soft brushes for blending, and even then only in the final stages.
It's also important to try to find the edges in the forms you're painting. If you don't have edges, chances are the pic is going to be blurry. And trust me, there are a whole lot of edges just about everywhere. Look at the last pic I posted. (The 'to detail...' post) The face is basically divided up into a whole lot of planes that can be found if you simplify a face a bit, only exaggerated.

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Affected
http://affected.xs.mw

Funfetus · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 4:08 pm

Don't use blurry brushes. Then everything you do can't help but be sharp.

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Funfetus
iCE VGA Division
http://www.funhousedigital.com

Mongoose · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 5:23 pm

Work in a higher resolution (usually 4x the size of what you actually want the image size to be), and get comfortable with smudging, and dont forget:

REFINE REFINE REFINE! : )

Most importantly, have patience.

Jerrid · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 6:12 pm

Mongoose (or anyone else that is really good) could you please tell me how to do the refining part? I really get screwed up on it, and my refining never looks good. Could you give me some examples of what tools to use, how to use them, and such? Just one or two little examples like say for a piece of clothing, or a sword or something, maybe a weapon. How would you refine those? Where would you use the brushes, which brushes, how much?

Thanks so much for any help!

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Jerrid

Funfetus · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 9:12 pm

"Refining" is really just a matter of zooming in and working with a small brush on all the areas that need it. It's more a matter of knowing what the pic needs than any sort of Photoshop trick.

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Funfetus
iCE VGA Division
http://www.funhousedigital.com

Mongoose · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2000 9:19 pm

Yea, Funfetus explained it quite well. All it is is zooming in and fixing up areas that seem too blurry, or just generally out of place. For me, it's the most time-consuming aspect of my pieces. It takes a LOT of patience man, don't get discouraged, after you complete a few pics you will get a LOT quicker with the process as a whole.

Good luck!
Mongoose

AprilYSH · Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2000 6:00 pm

I've asked this question LOTS of times myself. What I wanted to hear were VERY specific answers which I finally figured out from answers similar to the ones above.

This is what I've done, do something similar if you haven't already:

In PS, the default paintbrush set you get are in 0% hardness. Copy the brush set and set the hardness to 50% for each one (click on a brush to edit its details.) Then do another copy of the set and make those ones 80% hardness. Now you have three sets of the same brush sizes at different hardnesses.

When you are painting in the base colours, use the hardest set (80% or whatever you decided to set them to) so your edges are sharp. Then as you progress to highlights(or dodge), shadows(or burn), and smudges, you can use the 50% or the original 0% soft brushes.

Use as many layers as you need, don't skimp. That way you won't get uneccesary smudges between layers you didn't intend to mix.

When you are happy with the edges of a layer, set it to "preserve transparency" so you don't mess it up.

Ok, that's all. *I* am still struggling with this. They've helped me but these are *basic* pointers that may or may not help you. Beyond this, I reckon it all boils down to practice and experience.

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http://clix.to/vanity

jasonN · Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2000 11:05 pm

Erm well, I'm just really obsessed with blurryness and I hate blurred edges. So it's basically just recognising where the edges are and keeping them clean. When you zoom in on an edge which looks 'okay' you'll notice that up close the edge is quite mixed or blurred. So just fix it up in the zoomed state and it'll look great once you zoom out.

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-Jason :)

JasonArt

ICQ: 24680551

micke · Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2000 12:49 am

If you're painting in a higher resolution and use a mix of blurred and sharp brushes
the picture will look fiine when you
shrink it down. There's also a Sharpen tool in Photoshop you can use.

-Micke

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-Mikael Noguchi-

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Suite/1615/

Oscar Alexander · Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2000 5:25 am

Here's another tip:
Switch on the 'Perserve Transparency' option of the layer you're working on. This way the outline of your shape(s) will remain clean. On drawback though, the image will 'stand out' since it doesn't blend in with the background. Of course you can always fix this later on...

OOPZ... Sorry April, didn't read your post

[This message has been edited by Oscar Alexander (edited February 01, 2000).]