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 Uhhhh I haven't posted in a CC daily drawing thread in over five years easy. Around my mid twenties I tried to recover whatever ability I had in high school. I have a lot of difficulty with this, though. There is a lot of frustration grown out of my attempts to become more artistic again. This isn't so much a New Year's resolution type of thing. Honestly, the end-game isn't drawing, but writing. I want to write graphic novels, but when you have no artist partners, there isn't much you can do. I decided I'm going to try to pick up illustration again, to at least get my ball rolling. I got a tablet for Christmas (Monoprice 12x9) to help me with this. I want to get to a certain level to where I can begin making some kind of comics, so I can actually get started on that dream. Give myself some way to present my stories, so I can find someone who can make them come to life. I want to be able to do breakdowns on the comics. I also want to get into digital painting, speed painting and concept art styles. I'm just lost on how to get started, and how to get used to working on a tablet. I know I need to practice, but that isn't enough for me. I'll end up throwing myself against a wall again. If anyone has suggestions on what kind of dailing drawing I should do, I'd be happy to hear it.
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Jan 2, 2015 03:34
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 06:50 |
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noggut posted:Holding my tablet pen with a longer distance down to the tip helped me gain a lot of control, like the first grip here (tripod grip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMC0Cx3Uk84 This was a really good video for me, because it reinforced something that I should already know. A huge problem I have is control, and a lot of it must be because I am drawing from my wrist. I'll have to start working more from my shoulder. Tracing would be a good idea as well, to help get a familiarity with the tablet.
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Jan 2, 2015 20:39
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I said I'd draw every day, but I didn't say I'd post in the thread every day! (Wait, did I? No, I didn't, I checked.) I have been drawing the last few days, but only scribbles and simple doodles, not worth this thread. It's been frustrating. Then I began watching more videos on Ctrl Paint, and I've learned a lot, about drawing techniques, especially when it comes to graphics tablets and Photoshop tools. This, along with suggestions from this thread, gave me my most productive and fulfilling day of drawing in almost a decade. My biggest struggle may have been with the surface of the tablet itself. Yeah, the surface is smooth, it's unlike drawing on paper. But it wasn't so much that, but that my hand was getting stuck dragging across it. I've made drawing gloves based on this, but why not kill two birds with one stone? I've affixed a sheet of drawing paper onto my tablet (using double sided tape so it looks nice and clean). This is something I actually did on my original tablet years ago. It seems to help so much. The texture on the pen is nice, but what really helps is my hand being able to glide as well as it wants. The Ctrl Paint videos taught me things that I feel like I should have known. The biggest concept I got out of the videos so far is that when creating art digitally, you look for cheats wherever possible. For example, I have a lot of trouble drawing an organic line from point A to point B. One thing I learned is to not be concerned with starting at A and ending at B, that can really restrict your flow. Instead, begin before A, and end beyond B. Then erase what isn't needed. Doing this, I was able to make clean lines that I have never been able to create in my entire life. Another trick that I can't believe I never even knew before was creating strokes from selections. My God, I'm an idiot. I've been using Photoshop for well over 15 years, as one point as a professional doing graphic design for a small software company. (With no training, obviously.) For example, when I was making word balloons for the webcomic I made in high school, I'd create the selection, fill it white, create a new layer under it, expand the selection a few pixels, and then fill it black. And now I see I can just... stroke it?! I am so embarrassed I missed this. I am even using the loving Pen tool now. The loving pen tool. I hate vector pens. But one video (actually linked on Ctrl Paint to an off-site video) explained how to use the Pen tool to create selections. So... here's what I did. Taking Phylodox's suggestion, I traced something.  Years ago I saved a lot of images from the website of Steve Gordon, who did the character designs for the X-Men: Evolution cartoon. I always enjoyed that style, so I wanted to study it. And Rogue was always my favorite, so I gave her a shot.  While I am happy with the progress, there is a lot that I am unhappy with here. But the key is that it doesn't frustrate me, like it normally does. Instead, I see things I can work on. My biggest complaint is that it looks too clean, too mechanical, and thus lifeless. I used a lot of the pen tool, especially on the curves of her hair. I want my strokes to be clean, but this is too much. I think I've learned that I need to only use the pen tool at certain times. I am also unhappy with the brush weight, I think it is too thin. If it were thicker, I think this would look better. That, or you'd want more detail, but there isn't more detail in this style. I also would want to think about using varying line weights, but I'd need to research on how to do that.
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Jan 5, 2015 05:06
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The preview for size jitter makes it look like little round blobs are going to be in my lines. I'll have to actually play with it.Doctor_Fruitbat posted:Sphere's fine, but I have no idea how you're meant to draw shadows without cheating in Photoshop. How do you draw convincing shadows, without just using the shape tool? That was attempt #10 and it still looks loving awful. First, try watching this video. A lot of the problem with your shadow is that it isn't a smooth gradient, it's awfully rough. Smoothing it out would help you so much, and when I watched this video I learned something on that. Also... why not cheat? You're using Photoshop, you've got all these tools available to you. Use them! Now, take my last drawing (coughTRACINGcouch) as warning. You can cheat, but if you take it too far, you're going to still get a poor result. I am starting to think it is about the small, little cheats that you can do that can really make a difference. Maybe don't use a clean oval selection shape as your shadow, but... why not use it to atleast get an idea of what it should look like? Then use that as a template, and create your own shadow with that as a guideline.
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Jan 6, 2015 03:57
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  I am so happy with this. Yes, it's traced, yes, it has issues. But I have never created lines like this before. This is... working. This has never worked for me before. Some of it is off, some of it was the result of trial and error, but it's something. Even when I could draw, I didn't draw like this, I didn't create lines like I am. I would draw very, very, very slowly over my sketching. And I'm much happier with the brush now, too. I got the free Kyle brushes (paid a dollar for them), but I ended up using a more standard brush that I tinkered with until I got this. ...her mouth looks like something out of Archie comics.
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Jan 6, 2015 05:27
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I wanted to give tracing another shot, but with something more detailed, as well as a different artist whose style I really respect. So, Stuart Immonen. I might color her over the weekend. But I want this to be my last trace job. I feel like I've got more of a handle on the tablet now, and I want to get to work on actually creating something. Where should I go from here? I've got a copy of Bridgeman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life. But I'm not going to be drawing from life. I'm going to be a cartoonist, an illustrator, a graphic novelist. I need to know my anatomy, but Bridgeman goes really deep into it.
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Jan 9, 2015 03:28
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I know I need to learn anatomy, I won't argue that. My point is that maybe Bridgman's is too much for me? Is there something more rudimentary, more tutorial?wesley snypes posted:Hi. I've started working out how to use my wacom properly, so please shout at me when I do things wrong. tia What do you think changed for you? What are you doing different? edit: I found a PDF I had kept that is also on figure drawing. But, like Bridgman's, it's more.. explanatory, with examples. I'd like step by step tutorials, with explanations on why I am drawing what I'm doing, or... something like that. I drew this stick figure. I didn't check until after I was done to see that it was about eight heads big, so that was nice. Not sure if the proportions are right, though. 
Revol fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Jan 10, 2015 |
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Jan 10, 2015 04:37
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 06:50 |
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Avshalom posted:
I really really like this and I think we have the same goal.
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Jan 10, 2015 19:10
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