Drawing / Sketching / Digital Painting

I want to get back into digital art, but historically every time I try I seem to get the same problem - any tips on fighting against the drop-out curve brain weasels?

IMAGE(http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/howtobeanexpert.jpg)

It feels odd in that it's a skill I'd really like to have and I know time and practice will eventually result in the skill to do the things I'd like to do but I can't seem to keep the discipline(courage? patience?) to cross over that gap.

krev82 wrote:

I want to get back into digital art, but historically every time I try I seem to get the same problem - any tips on fighting against the drop-out curve brain weasels?

IMAGE(http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/howtobeanexpert.jpg)

It feels odd in that it's a skill I'd really like to have and I know time and practice will eventually result in the skill to do the things I'd like to do but I can't seem to keep the discipline(courage? patience?) to cross over that gap.

Same. I used to just do stuff. I think once time becomes less discretionary and requires planning if feels heavier, like it's got to be WORTH something. But how can you know its worth before you try?

Same. I used to just do stuff. I think once time becomes less discretionary and requires planning if feels heavier, like it's got to be WORTH something. But how can you know its worth before you try?

On one hand, I'm all about being competent in a lot of things. I see value in that, largely because I end up being useful in situations where folks otherwise start to just stand around and look at each other, or call in an expert for something fairly trivial.

But on the other hand, I totally feel that desire to be much better at a couple things.

I recently read this analogy for scheduling: Think of your time as a bucket, and the things you want to or have to prioritize as tennis balls, with all the other things that fill your schedule as sand. If the sand's in the bucket, it'll be hard to get all the tennis balls to fit in there. But if you empty the bucket and put the balls in first, then the sand can fill in gaps between tennis balls, and you'll fit more in. Maybe some of the sand won't fit, but if something's not going to fit, you'd rather get the priorities in and have some of the less important stuff get left out.

Drew this last night while watching a movies with some friends. Thought it looked pretty good.
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/20140608_221342.jpg)
Dunno if I should go in and add more definition around the eyes or not. Kinda at that "just stop f'ing with it and call it good" point.

Like.

I like it as-is, but I can't say you should or shouldn't continue.

that "just stop f'ing with it and call it good" point.

This is the only way art ends.

Did some more sketches that I'm pretty happy with. I'm doing a good bit of work that has something slightly absurd about it. Lots of robots holding something innocuous but out of place. Might be a thing, might be a mental disease. Is there a difference?
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/roserobot_07.23.2014.jpg)
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/tearobot_07.23.2014.jpg)

First digital painting's initial version is complete. I'm not going to post it, I'm going to link it instead, since it shows some (non-sexual) nudity, and I'm not sure what the stance on that is here.

WARNING: Somewhat NSFW.

Link

I'm not happy with it, but I don't hate it either. Let's call it a 'first try'. I will print it, review it and fix what I find before having it printed on a canvas.

The actual size is 24" x 48", with 1.5" added on each side to account for the gallery canvas it will be printed on eventually.

Just picked up my first tablet. A little wacom intuos. It's really fun playing around with. Any tips for beginners?

Also it came with autodesk sketchbook and art rage. I figure since I'm sketching more the sketchbook would be better. But any opinions on those would be great.

Naturally me using it as mouse results in a double post...

I really liked Sketchbook when I tried it, I don't have much experience with Art Rage, but in the end whatever you feel comfortable with.

Only suggestion I can think of is to modify the pressure sensitivity so it feels good to your hand. If you are heavy handed, lower the sensitivity and if you have a light touch, increase it until you have a nice light line when you apply little pressure and a good thick line for how much you feel comfortable pushing down.

Enjoy and make sure to post some art!

I liked sketchbook when I used it, but I much prefer Manga Studio which you can get for about $40, or $20 if you wait for one of it's frequent sales.

So far I like it but it definitely feels like I'm back to square one in my drawing. I think I'm going to start a regime of a few drawing excercise everyday. I also have to figure out how I won't to hold it and place still. See after an hour or so my hand started cramping. I'm definitely holding it way to tight, and from what I understand I shouldn't be drawing with my wrist but the whole hand instead. I got about two weeks to figure out if I want to keep, get rid of it, or upgrade to a bigger one.

On the plus side it's been surprising intuitive. It's very easy to know where your mouse is going to be. I was tempted to try to use it as a mouse. Figuring that might up my level of precision over time. Probable not a good idea. Course all of this make me want a cintiq or a surface pro...

master0 wrote:

Course all of this make me want a cintiq or a surface pro...

I bought an Intuos long ago, but I was never able to get used to it. It never felt natural. I thought of getting a Cintiq, but these are way too expensive. What I got is a Yiynova MSP19U+, which is somewhat the same thing as a Cintiq, without the high price tag (it currently retails for $619 on Amazon). I've been using it regularly for more than a year and, despite the fact that the pen is terrible, I'm very happy with my purchase. The Intuos went back in its box a while ago, and it has been there since.

bobbywatson wrote:
master0 wrote:

Course all of this make me want a cintiq or a surface pro...

I bought an Intuos long ago, but I was never able to get used to it. It never felt natural. I thought of getting a Cintiq, but these are way too expensive. What I got is a Yiynova MSP19U+, which is somewhat the same thing as a Cintiq, without the high price tag (it currently retails for $619 on Amazon). I've been using it regularly for more than a year and, despite the fact that the pen is terrible, I'm very happy with my purchase. The Intuos went back in its box a while ago, and it has been there since.

I'd love that but it's hard for me to justify a 100 or more purchase just for drawing. That said has any one tried the surface pro for drawing. The old ones are not in a bad price range and it has more uses then drawing.

Edit - him best buy does have surface pro. I could try it out maybe...

What exactly are you looking for right now? Basically I'm curious as to why you are looking at digital resources only. You can get a ton of mileage with fairly cheap paper, pens, and pencils. Do you have a particular goal or set of restrictions you are working within?

Been a while since I've posted anything but I figured I need to brush up a bit before starting this art course in a few weeks. I finished up an image I've had sitting around for AGES since I wasn't quite happy with a few things about it. Can't remember if I posted it before here or not but...

IMAGE(http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj541/pyxistyx2013/paintings/portrait-sketch-2012-finished_zps3d2f68e9.jpg)
And a rough "work in progress" showing different stages here for anyone interested.

This was mostly in ArtRage Pro/4.0 and a bit of cleaning up / fixing some wonky things in photoshop to finish. Apologies to whoever's model photo I used - I can't find the original image to give proper credit. Think it was probably from Deviant Art originally.
Aha - I'd uploaded a version to DevArt aaaages ago - Source was Marcus Ranum

Songbird wrote:

What exactly are you looking for right now? Basically I'm curious as to why you are looking at digital resources only. You can get a ton of mileage with fairly cheap paper, pens, and pencils. Do you have a particular goal or set of restrictions you are working within?

I actually have a ton of that right now. Lots of good pens, paper, white board, etc. I have been drawing with those for a while. I just like the idea of having digital drawing as I am always on a pc at some point. Not to mention most my references that I use are online. I think I'm going to wind up getting a surface. Drawing on it felt great, and I don't have anything resembling a laptop for myself. Now I just need to see if I can get the student discount somehow. Also probable load art rage on to it. Really liked that program.

master0 wrote:
Songbird wrote:

What exactly are you looking for right now? Basically I'm curious as to why you are looking at digital resources only. You can get a ton of mileage with fairly cheap paper, pens, and pencils. Do you have a particular goal or set of restrictions you are working within?

I actually have a ton of that right now. Lots of good pens, paper, white board, etc. I have been drawing with those for a while. I just like the idea of having digital drawing as I am always on a pc at some point. Not to mention most my references that I use are online. I think I'm going to wind up getting a surface. Drawing on it felt great, and I don't have anything resembling a laptop for myself. Now I just need to see if I can get the student discount somehow. Also probable load art rage on to it. Really liked that program.

If you just want something to draw on you can get a drawing moniter form Monoprice for about $400 these day and I would think that would be a better choice and cheaper then the Surface. But if you want the Surface for other things as well I hear it's surprisingly good for that.

EDIT: Here's some links to reviews of the Surface for art purposes and the Monoprice monitor, in case anyone wants to do some reading on the subject.

IHateDRM wrote:
master0 wrote:
Songbird wrote:

What exactly are you looking for right now? Basically I'm curious as to why you are looking at digital resources only. You can get a ton of mileage with fairly cheap paper, pens, and pencils. Do you have a particular goal or set of restrictions you are working within?

I actually have a ton of that right now. Lots of good pens, paper, white board, etc. I have been drawing with those for a while. I just like the idea of having digital drawing as I am always on a pc at some point. Not to mention most my references that I use are online. I think I'm going to wind up getting a surface. Drawing on it felt great, and I don't have anything resembling a laptop for myself. Now I just need to see if I can get the student discount somehow. Also probable load art rage on to it. Really liked that program.

If you just want something to draw on you can get a drawing moniter form Monoprice for about $400 these day and I would think that would be a better choice and cheaper then the Surface. But if you want the Surface for other things as well I hear it's surprisingly good for that.

EDIT: Here's some links to reviews of the Surface for art purposes and the Monoprice monitor, in case anyone wants to do some reading on the subject.

That's exactly it for me. I can't justify spending 100s on something just for drawing. But if it is also useful for everything else, then I don't worry as much. I just picked it up and been having a ton of fun messing with it. Feels like drawing on a very smooth sketchbook. Not to mention when I saw that steam would automatically stream games from my main pc. Well that was just icing.

master0 wrote:
IHateDRM wrote:
master0 wrote:
Songbird wrote:

What exactly are you looking for right now? Basically I'm curious as to why you are looking at digital resources only. You can get a ton of mileage with fairly cheap paper, pens, and pencils. Do you have a particular goal or set of restrictions you are working within?

I actually have a ton of that right now. Lots of good pens, paper, white board, etc. I have been drawing with those for a while. I just like the idea of having digital drawing as I am always on a pc at some point. Not to mention most my references that I use are online. I think I'm going to wind up getting a surface. Drawing on it felt great, and I don't have anything resembling a laptop for myself. Now I just need to see if I can get the student discount somehow. Also probable load art rage on to it. Really liked that program.

If you just want something to draw on you can get a drawing moniter form Monoprice for about $400 these day and I would think that would be a better choice and cheaper then the Surface. But if you want the Surface for other things as well I hear it's surprisingly good for that.

EDIT: Here's some links to reviews of the Surface for art purposes and the Monoprice monitor, in case anyone wants to do some reading on the subject.

That's exactly it for me. I can't justify spending 100s on something just for drawing. But if it is also useful for everything else, then I don't worry as much. I just picked it up and been having a ton of fun messing with it. Feels like drawing on a very smooth sketchbook. Not to mention when I saw that steam would automatically stream games from my main pc. Well that was just icing.

Thought's what I thought but I wanted to let you and anyone reading of the other options. Glad to hear your liking it.

I'm actually thinking about that monitor now. Thanks for posting it.

clover wrote:

I'm actually thinking about that monitor now. Thanks for posting it.

It's worth noting that there's likely to be a 21 inch 1080P version sometime in the next year, no idea what it'll cost though and it sounds like the one out now works just fine.

Oops, I thought I posted this before. I guess there is a new tablet coming out this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEVT...

Frenden posted a nice prequel review of it here

Songbird wrote:

Oops, I thought I posted this before. I guess there is a new tablet coming out this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEVT...

Frenden posted a nice prequel review of it here

From what I hear the monoprice tablets are just Huion tablets rebranded and a bit cheaper so if your on a budget I'd wait a bit and see what Monoprice comes out with.

I've been playing around with color and different types of brushes in Manga Studio (these brushes I think but I got them when they were still $6.99) and I thought I'd share the results so far:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByvCrhRIgAAKKdd.png:large)

For this one I used an inker brush and I'm pretty happy with it, it could use a bit of touching up, but I have no real complaints that don't come down to I just need more experience.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Byz6ZamCcAEjUyW.png:large)

This was more of an experiment in color blending so I figured I'd try a water color brush and I'd say it went about as well you'd expect it too, given that I've never done anything with water colors before and barely know anything about color. Still I should have spent more time working on the anatomy before taking any color to it. It's also worth noting that this is the second version as my computer crashed big time about 3 hours (yes really, it took me 3 hours) into the first one leaving me with only the layout pencils underneath. But version two only took about 45 minutes and came out better anyways so whatever.

Tomorrow I think I'll try out some colored pencils, Thursday I think I'll try out an acrylic paint brush, and Friday I think I'll try some pixel art. Speaking of which I did this a few months ago and forgot to post it:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/fCPy9aX.png)

So this is EXTREMELY work in progress...still not quite sure what I'm doing with it yet but I'm super happy with what I've got so far: A Victorian/Steampunk military sniper (complete with hard-boiled faery 'spotter' / mechanic)

Probably best open in a new window to see full size.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/YDDkSMF.jpg)

Like I say - still working on it!

Nice work!

I have a piece of scribble concept that is similar but i call it daVinci punk. So instead of steam engine tech it is springs, pulleys, coils, cranks and bellows powered weaponry with a renaissance flavored style military uniform.

PLEASE FORGIVE ME MY TRESPASSES. I AM LAZY AND A LOT THE SICK OKAY.

By a great serendipity Citizen86 still had a Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet available recently. I bought and received and installed drivers for the thing and boy Microsoft Paint never worked so well.

Yes. MS Paint.

What other than Photoshop should I look for as a nicely featured application for drawing on such a tablet? It comes with Photoshop Elements which I've used before which is to say I've also stepped on a rusty nail before and I try to learn from my mistakes. Perhaps it's fine, and I may give it a try, but...

I know there are a bevy of lower-end but fully capable applications out there. I suppose GIMP fits the bill, but this is (ostensibly) for a soon-to-be-12-year-old and I'm not sure GIMP is where I want to start. It'll be enough to transition from paper let alone to learn the emacs key binding for "eraser". Optimally it includes support for natural-media rendering.

Something like Acorn might be good but we're on a Windows machine and Acorn is OS X-only. A cursory search turns up Corel products and DrawPlus among others.

What do you use?

muraii wrote:

PLEASE FORGIVE ME MY TRESPASSES. I AM LAZY AND A LOT THE SICK OKAY.

By a great serendipity Citizen86 still had a Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet available recently. I bought and received and installed drivers for the thing and boy Microsoft Paint never worked so well.

Yes. MS Paint.

What other than Photoshop should I look for as a nicely featured application for drawing on such a tablet? It comes with Photoshop Elements which I've used before which is to say I've also stepped on a rusty nail before and I try to learn from my mistakes. Perhaps it's fine, and I may give it a try, but...

I know there are a bevy of lower-end but fully capable applications out there. I suppose GIMP fits the bill, but this is (ostensibly) for a soon-to-be-12-year-old and I'm not sure GIMP is where I want to start. It'll be enough to transition from paper let alone to learn the emacs key binding for "eraser". Optimally it includes support for natural-media rendering.

Something like Acorn might be good but we're on a Windows machine and Acorn is OS X-only. A cursory search turns up Corel products and DrawPlus among others.

What do you use?

Manga Studio is considered the high water mark for Photoshop alternatives, a lot of people says it's better then Photoshop for some things.