Tips on digital painting

Forums > Art Related > Digital Art

~JTKNinja Feb 23, 2013 Student Traditional Artist

Heres a link to my first official run at digital painting [link]

You can no longer comment on this thread as it was closed due to no activity for a month.

Devious Comments

~cl0aked Feb 24, 2013 Professional Digital Artist

People can be mean, but they do have good intentions. On the issue of blood: it's rarely plain red, specially if it's on the body; and it has a very high specularity, meaning highlights will be very white and very small. Check these to see what i mean:

~Vineris Feb 24, 2013 Student General Artist

Your biggest problems have nothing to do with the digital part of digital painting. So about the only thing you could do, apart from improving your drawing and lighting skills, is use bigger brushes so that everything doesn't look scribbly and textured.

~JTKNinja Feb 25, 2013 Student Traditional Artist

aahh ok cool I hate that almost amateur feel to it but that sounds like it will help. Thanks.

*Dervila Feb 23, 2013 Student General Artist

Find where your darkest darks and your whitest whites are going to be and then work in between those. Some of your darks don't feel dark enough, like around the face, skin and parts of the jacket. It's also important to note that shadows aren't just black, they're all kinds of colors. Normally if you want to paint something that has a warm light, you want cool shadows. Another possible trick is to use the complimentary color to create the shadows. You might want to try doing greyscale studies of objects and people to help you better understand how to create volume, depth, and value. That should help quite a bit.

I also might suggest using a hard or soft round brush with opacity (The fifth and sixth brushes on the list). They might help you get smoother blends.

Other than that, good luck!

~Deserti Feb 23, 2013 Digital Artist

I would start by studying the techniques of Andrew Loomis, especially his technique on drawing faces. It's simple, but freakishly helpful when it comes to facial structure and proportion. His book, Drawing the Head and Hands, is available as a pdf online. His other books are also online, but I haven't read them yet.

For an excellent introduction, check out Stan Prokopenko's videos on youtube: [link]
They may be all you need, but I encourage you to read the Loomis book, too.

Humans have been the one thing I haven't been able to draw since I began to take art seriously(ish). This year, I discovered these resources and although I'm by no means a master, the level of improvement brought on by studying Loomis' technique is noteworthy. If I can do it, anyone can do it. And you're off to a good start; with a bit more practice, you'll be perfectly fine!

~JTKNinja Feb 23, 2013 Student Traditional Artist

ok sweet! thanks for those tutorials, I was kinda trying to get help with the painting techniques and stuff but this helps too.

~Deserti Feb 24, 2013 Digital Artist

Oh! Sorry.

Well in that case, here's a few more (hopefully) helpful tutorials:

Skin: [link] <-- I noticed in your painting that you used to little a range of colors on your subject's skin, which made it look a bit flat. Like this tutorial suggests, I'd use more warm, reddish tones to give it life.
And here's part two of that tutorial, on skin tones (super helpful): [link]

Hair: [link] and [link]

I reference these tutorials CONSTANTLY whenever I attempt people.

One final thought: I'd stay away from black lines; it would be beneficial to color them. Oftentimes, I like to color the lines and set that layer to multiply. Play around with it!

Hope this stuff is a bit more helpful to your cause!

~Calvero Feb 23, 2013 Student

You should learn anatomy before you even start coloring.

~JTKNinja Feb 23, 2013 Student Traditional Artist

ehhh wasn't really the question.

~Calvero Feb 23, 2013 Student

If you aren't concerned with anatomy my tip would be to practice coloring black and white photos. It helps with understanding lighting. You can apply that knowledge to your digital paintings. practice coloring shapes like cubes, spheres and cones, as well. Study color theory.

Details

Statistics

Tips on digital painting

Devious Comments

The Journal Portal

Polls

What is your preferred drawing software?

deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART]

Keep in Touch!

Deviousness

Add Media

Style