Digital Painting

[jescas]

Hey Pat,
Great space suit image. Wish I could do as well in any medium.
Best,
Aaron

[Ignatz]

Thank you very much for the offer of assistance! If I get into trouble, believe me, I'll ask for help.

No problem.

Oh one more thing, I found this on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IitK2wi4Qn4

It's a time lapsed digital painting.
It may help or it may not but I thought you might be interested.

I think perhaps that's the best thing about the current group of professional artists working today: They are more than willing to share information, tips, tricks, and offer solutions to problems.

Speaking of sharing tips (A bit off topic but...) there was a letter submitted to ImagineFX from one of the readers (cant remember which issues) , where he complained about Imagine FX sharing art tips and techniques with the rest of the world. Apparently he was under the assumption that these art tips and techniques should be kept a secret among "true" artists.
A bit of an odd opinion, but oh well.....I guess we might as well shut down traditional art school as well, so the "secret" doesn't get out!

Hey Pat,
Great space suit image. Wish I could do as well in any medium.
Best,
Aaron

Thanks Aaron!

Pat

[TheDanWhoShall]

Hey guys new here. I think I am going to Like this site

You guys might also want to look for 'student' discounts for software. I use http://www.academicsuperstore.com/

I bought painter from there. It's pretty easier to qualify as a student/teacher/parent to get the discount. I just emailed them my student ID from when I took some classes at a local community college. Looks like the price is a little higher now, but I got my Corel painter A while ago for around $80. It's the full cd. mac/pc.

Good luck

Oh an thanks for the Carlos Cabrera link, interesting.

-D

[-Joe-]

Hi Dan and welcome aboard! As I tell all new members, explore the topics and feel free to jump in if you have anything to say or add. I hope you have a good time here.

Onward....

Recently, I was given a bunch of ImagineFX magazines. If you're not familiar with them, they are devoted to digital art with side trips into traditional method artists and methods, but mostly geared towards digital painting. These are really terrific magazines because they not only deal with the mechanics of digital painting but also the theories behind good Art and the ethics problems inherent with using photographs in a digital paint program. I get very jazzed reading them. For me, they are every bit as inspirational as looking at and reading about traditionally created Art.

I had to laugh because when it comes to the mechanics, it reads exactly like artists who use traditional materials. Some artists say "You should do this" and others say "Never do this" and that makes me smile. Variations of the old "Don't use Ivory Black in your paintings"/"If you want to use Ivory Black go right ahead" argument. The terms may be different ("dodge" and "burn") but the idea is the same. Which just goes to show that artists have strong feelings about certain methods regardless of the materials being used and you'll read them contradicting each other several times over the course of a few issues.

On the ethics side, the view on one method is universal: If an artist imports a photo and merely paints over it and calls it his/her own, the artist that does that is considered to be slime and a hack. I was not surprised, but I was delighted to read that all of the pros who give advice in columns stress drawing. Drawing, drawing, drawing. There is no such thing as too much drawing. Younger artists are gently scolded for not developing solid drawing skills and those who show good draftsmanship are applauded enthusiastically. I've noticed in a few Art forums that artists who post retouched photos are torn to shreds. You don't want to be around when somebody posts a photo that they ran the "Van Gogh" filter on and say, "Look what I painted!" The heat from the flames will practically melt your monitor.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I find it very comforting to read the same attitudes being applied to digital art that are applied to traditionally created art. At least on that score, the learning curve isn't so drastic.

-Joe-

[scott]

Hey Joe,

This isn't a response to you in particular but it does always sort of surprise me when people realize that the principles are indeed the same. I think it's a reflection on the inherent distrust of digital media.

For instance, I had a digital painting which was accused of being a photo paint over when it most certainly is not. In fact I used no photo reference whatsoever for it and painted it digitally, from scratch, straight from my head. Turns out, I can draw, paint and have a pretty solid foundation in form, modeling, atmosphere and color theory.

I've also spent years drawing from life and painting traditionally. I guess it's paid off.

It's a very, very competitive field particularly with the younger set. Lots of these kids do not in fact have any formal training and they compensate with defensiveness and accusations.Boosting themselves by tearing others down. Reminds me a lot of when I was working in comics. You can really tell who went to drawing class and who sat around learning by copying comic books. Always seemed like the latter was a lot more vocal about who was "good" and who wasn't.

Anyone who's spent time learning their craft can tell the difference right away and there's no way someone who cut all the corners could ever really compete with that. They may charge less but you get what you pay for. A cheap imitation or the real deal.

Glad to hear you're having so much fun with it. Imagine FX is a great resource.

Speaking of digital drawing and painting, check out this open source software called Alchemy. Uses sound to generate shapes. Android Jones has a great video demo of it. http://al.chemy.org/