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flippinmarilyn posted:I have an interest in picking up painting as my own personal hobby (not competitively, or for a profession). My only concern is that I lack the ability to draw, in general, or I've never actually tried. I'm wondering if there's a niche for people like me, people with the desire to learn, but that haven't always been gifted from birth. Is there a niche that I can fall into for the less talented? Is all hope lost for me? (teasing, but still >_<) Drawing and painting are nothing more than skills refined with practice. There are lots of books and tutorials available (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is always recommended, I also like Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks). However, the majority of learning is rote practice. Keep a sketchbook and pencil with you at all times (Moleskin, for all its hipster cred, makes a nice pocket sized one) and draw your surroundings and from your imagination at every free moment. I'm of the opinion that you should do both in equal measure- one supports your observational skill while the other solidifies your stylistic choices and compositional skills. I'm in an illustration graduate program and I rarely draw with anything other than basic computer paper and mechanical pencil. I've drawn with multiple pencils, charcoal, conte, ink, wash...a huge variety of media...but I keep coming back to the humble pencil due to the quickness and ease of use. Some drawings can be found at summasmiff.tumblr.com.
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Mar 1, 2009 03:47
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From that picture it's hard to tell but it's not the nose, it's the eye. You've drawn it as if it were a frontal view as opposed to profile.  In profile view, it would be almost a triangle, and much smaller than if you saw it in a frontal view.
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Mar 21, 2009 19:21
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You can use the GIMP to make animated GIFs. There are tutorials available online.
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Mar 25, 2009 14:13
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If you've never used watercolors, start with Crayola. Seriously, I have a sets and sets of tube colors that I use but I keep coming back to my Crayola pan colors. You can learn a lot about mixing from them and they're easy to carry and store. They're a great beginner set because the colors are so saturated. Also, you might want to pick up a tube of Payne's Grey and Burnt Umber. Payne's is a blueish, slate grey color, and Burnt Umber is a richer, nicer brown. I like to draw with pen and these make excellent "shading" colors to put over a pen drawing just for an old timey photo type look. Also, painting in monochrome will improve your skills. edit: a brush You need a soft brush with a nice round tip that comes to a sharp point. I have a size 8 golden taklon brush that probably cost like <$5 that I use for just about anything. The key is to have a brush big enough to cover a largish area but high quality enough that the point is completely pointy when wet so you can paint small details. my basic kit: crayola pan colors with blob of paynes grey stuck somewhere inside water bottle brush vonnegutt fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Mar 28, 2009 |
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Mar 28, 2009 20:15
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If you can find a really high quality image of it online (at least 1,000 px on one side), you can probably get a decent print of it at any profession poster printer's. There are some in every town and they'll probably have a few different options. Basically you want a color printout on photo quality paper (at a size you like), and then maybe have it mounted on foamcore.
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Apr 4, 2009 14:15
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windwaker posted:So, one of my friends and I are exchanging pictures. I've been trying to get into drawing, though it is difficult and I have only just begun. Get a brushpen! They have a flexible felt tip that can make more interesting lines than just a Sharpie. Faber Castell's PITT artist pen (make sure to get a brush tip, they have several varieties) is my favorite, and is only about $3. Microns are the standard for a fixed width small pen. They are also ~$3 each. I have three Microns (005, 03, and 08) and a PITT brushpen and I can honestly say that as far as B+W linework goes, that is all I need. (Although a 00 brush and a bottle of ink is fun too, as are Crowquil pens, as are sharpies, as are etc etc)
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Apr 22, 2009 17:53
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ok go etc posted:What do you call two colours art ? I'm thinking of old school computer display aliased black and white, not shades of grey or anything like that. Can anyone point me to a gallery somewhere ? Artists ? Bitmap images are two color, although the pixels may be really close together to look greyscale... Net artists, and 8 bit artists are the first things to come to mind... Do you mean things like on https://www.mathwrath.com ?
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Apr 24, 2009 22:28
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Sarah Barracuda posted:Question about keeping proportion/perspective correct when working large, specifically with oil paints. If you have access to a projector of any kind (opaque, transparency, computer) it'll make your life a lot easier. Do detailed sketches and then project them onto the canvas. I think you can rent projectors at places like Rent A Center.
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May 15, 2009 20:54
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Worm? posted:To start, I'm no artist, so just assume I know nothing about anything. Golden (acrylic paint company) makes a variety of mediums (basically, clear paint) that work great as glue. They're archival and will work as both adhesive and semi-gloss coating over the cards. You might have to use several coats. I'd go with Golden Matte Medium. http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/mattemed.php
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May 15, 2009 20:56
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Also, masks can have different amounts of transparency applied pretty easily, since they work on greyscale. Fading edges in and out using gradients on your mask is much, much easier than trying to use a soft eraser.
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May 18, 2009 15:45
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nahanahs posted:I just made a jump from Photoshop CS to CS4 and, when using the pen or creating shapes, it doesn't make a new layer. It just draws in some invisible layer, I guess. It's putting it in the Paths menu. The tab for Paths is next to the one for Channels on the Layers palette. You should be able to draw a path, and then save it and be able to use it from the Paths menu.
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May 20, 2009 16:58
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Dvega posted:I finished inking a drawing and was planning on shading it with an ink wash, only somehow neglected to realize the pen I had inked the panel borders with wasn't water resistant. Luckily I found out on a test paper before I started on the actual page but it still renders it basically unusable. Is there any possible solution to this or do I just toss it in the bin and learn from my mistake? I say keep the original drawing, and trace/scan/project it onto another piece of paper to use inkwash with. Don't throw away your drawings! Alternately, try using a brush soaked in a small amount of water to "bleed" out the ink that is already present. If you're careful, you might be able to use your problem (runny ink) to make an interesting wash drawing!
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May 22, 2009 13:15
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You should ask the company, and if there is a copyright issue, you should ask if you can use the images/animations solely for personal promotion and not for profit. Most companies will allow this, but you should be specific, because if you were to generate any income from them, there might be an issue. In the future, you should try to negotiate for personal promotional rights up front, as they are very important for your career, but often overlooked by companies.
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May 26, 2009 15:09
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Honestly, that image is so degraded that it'll be hard to make perfect again, the information simply isn't there. However, you could try this: After cleaning the majority of the dark scratches (the white ones won't matter in this method), copy the image layer, and set the copied layer on Multiply on the layer option. Add as many of these copied Multiply layers as you need to get the photo to clear up, then, you can flatten them and fix the white scratches as you need.
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Jun 7, 2009 18:36
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Humboldt squid posted:Oh god how do I use adobe illustrator. I've tried to do some tutorials and watched some videos but it all goes totally over my head, does any one know of any absolutly basic, easy to follow tutorials that actually explain what I'm doing? http://www.gomediazine.com/category/tutorials/illustrator/ I really like these, they taught me a lot of functions I never knew existed.
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Jun 8, 2009 17:31
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Furthermore any library has some books about learning to draw, be sure to pick up general books as opposed to "how to draw MANGA HEROES" and you'll be set. Other than that, for a beginner, all you need is some pencils and printer paper...have at it.
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Jun 14, 2009 16:56
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No. 9 posted:I need a simple Wacom tablet or something that I can just use my own handwriting for a website and simple cartoony drawings on. I'm not looking to invest that much, and I hope to find an older thing off eBay. Any recommendations? It's gotta be USB, though. Wacom is a brand name, so they are all USB. I don't know, set up a Google alert for it and wait til one goes on sale? I found one off Woot or similar for like $40, but that was a few years ago.
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Jun 19, 2009 13:22
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I would also recommend just keeping pen and paper handy wherever you are, whatever you happen to be doing. I doodle a lot while I'm on the phone and watching tv, and usually just toss the paper afterwards, but occasionally I get a really nice drawing out of it that I'll blow it up and put on my website. If you have sketchbook anxiety, do what a teacher of mine does: he'll draw on whatever paper is handy, but if he gets a drawing he really likes, he pastes it into his sketchbook instead of throwing it out. So his sketchbook is nothing but his favorite drawings. Also, if you haven't, get into mixed media. Take a drawing you don't like, and paste a different color of paper over the part that sucks, then redraw that part with a different tool. If you approach drawing as an all-or-nothing one time thing, of course you'll be anxious. Tell yourself that there's always a way to change it, and you're likely to have less anxiety.
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Jul 13, 2009 17:52
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fret logic posted:So then is it alright to bust out a notebook and hammer away or should I get lessons or do research to avoid bad habits? Does that really matter? Most people have enough visual literacy to know when a drawing looks "off" or "bad". The trick is to learn how to pinpoint exactly why a drawing looks "off", and then have the discipline to rework it into something that works. When you begin drawing you'll come to figure out what works for a while just based on trial and error. Drawing isn't something like say, car repair, where you need to have a basic understanding to work off of. The more you draw, the more you'll understand about what you personally like and dislike, and you can develop an original look this way. However, if you want to learn how to draw realistically, a book on drawing might speed you along, letting you bypass a lot of the more common beginner problems. I wouldn't recommend buying one immediately since they're all very different (really concrete "this is how to draw" vs. "be creative! express your soul!" being the two main types), but I would recommend going to your library, picking up a couple, and leafing through them until you find out what approach you like. Drawing for Children by Mona Brooks is a good one, despite the corny title (It should be called Drawing for Beginners). Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is also pretty popular. One caveat: Avoid formulaic books such as "How to draw Manga!" or whatever. They're pretty much worthless unless your goal is to be able to copy someone else's drawings.
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Jul 19, 2009 19:21
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I would also recommend making a Drawing folder on your computer and saving drawings you find online. I have a huge folder of these, and it motivates and inspires me to see the sheer variety of options available. One of my art teachers has us make what he calls "poop sheets" which is simply a large photoshop document where you copy and paste snippets of drawings, photos, or other reference into one big sheet to make a sort of digital collage of reference images. When I work in photoshop it's nice to have only two windows open, my work and my poop sheet, but still be able to see all the references and inspirational images while I'm working. So for example you want to draw a motorcycle, so you search online for photos of motorcycles, plus some sweet paintings of metallic things, plus maybe one of your favorite paintings that has good colors, and you just paste them into a single document so you have all your info right at hand.
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Jul 20, 2009 01:09
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Side Effects posted:
Scan it at 8 bit grayscale at 300 dpi at least. (More is better for B+W, >1200 is excessive, but up to 1200 is good, depending on how fast your computer is) In Photoshop, use the threshold function to adjust the value of your scan until it looks like your original drawing. Depending on how good your scanner is, this could take a lot of adjusting, or almost none. I would use Threshold rather than Levels because Levels tends to chew up your data a lot more, and Threshold gives you more precision. Furthermore, you should only use Threshold once; if you don't like your first result, undo it and retry with different values instead of just trying to tweak on the fly. Every Photoshop layer adjustment tends to change your data, and you want it as close to your original drawing as possible. Convert it to a bitmap image, these can be as big as 1200 dpi and still have sort of small file sizes. Since bitmap is binary (only black or white pixels), higher resolution is needed to see all your details, but bitmap is good because it won't grey out your images or make them blurry looking. If you have a high enough DPI, your bitmap will look crisper and blacker than any other type of file. Printing: Check with your local Kinkos or local printers for pricing and so forth, and have them print on acid free archival paper. With black and white a laser printer can produce a nice print, but really, it's more about what paper you print on than anything. Look at their samples, and find something you like that's thick enough to withstand mounting.
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Jul 25, 2009 21:21
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I feel really dumb for asking this, but...
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SkellingTon Loc posted:Do any of you use GIMP? I've been trying it out and it seems kinda cool except I'm having some problems when using calligraphic brushes. It really looks to me as if your document DPI isn't set high enough. Try creating a new document with a much larger initial file size (300 dpi should clear up that issue) and using them then. Also, remember that the GIMP is free software, so there are lots of versions and patches available. If it really SHOULD be working and isn't, you might have a buggy version and need to upgrade.
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Oct 1, 2009 18:38
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Yes, you are looking for a graphic designer. As for credentials, the most important thing to look for is a portfolio. Most freelancers (meaning they work not for a company specifically, but take individual jobs) will have a website, but if not, ask to see some samples of their work. Look at the design of them - not just to see how fanshy of a font they can find, but just to see whether the work is easy to understand, whether the information is presented neatly. Also, see if anything in their portfolio is actually published or not: a lot of student work is based on potential jobs, but it's nice to see if there are actual jobs in there just so you know that they can work for a client, on a deadline, on a budget, etc. etc.
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Oct 12, 2009 15:17
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I don't know how to change it permanently, but in my illustrator (CS4) it gives every layer a different path color. So a quick and dirty fix might be to add a layer and just lock the yellow one. Alternatively, by clicking the tiny pulldown menu on the layers palette you can pull up the Layer Options and change it there. Picture! 
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Oct 13, 2009 18:22
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SteveVizsla posted:y have no clue what I'm doing. I have a glass jar that I'm decorating. I've glued some thin paper flowers to parts of it. What do I put on top of the flowers so that they don't fall off? Or, in my case, so the rabbit doesn't eat them. I'm guessing it should be a glaze or something, but there's so many kinds. MOD PODGE!!! If you want to get super 70s about it. Or, try one of Golden's acrylic mediums, they come in lots of finishes (gloss, matte, weird gels) Or, if you don't mind experimenting, simply water down some Elmer's white glue and apply with a brush. It's not specifically made for it, but I've used it a bunch of times. Also what you are doing is called decoupage so Googling for that might offer even more suggestions.
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Oct 18, 2009 03:04
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etard knievel posted:
I don't know about the fabric paint, but try this for the bleach: mix 3 parts water, 1 part bleach together and put it in a spray bottle (check beforehand to make sure it has a wide, misty spray). Make a stencil for your design, then spray it. Press paper towels to the spot to immediately soak up the moisture so the bleach mix doesn't seep under the stencil. http://reubenmiller.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/secret-bleach-s.html
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Oct 25, 2009 15:33
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huskyjackal posted:I think your sketch is an improvement on your reference, actually. It's more stylized and interesting looking. The way I think of it, if you are happy with the drawing that comes from reference, you've accomplished your goal. The only reason I would grid/trace/etc is if I used reference and just couldn't "get" it for whatever reason. Photographs are tricky because some angles don't translate well, so I find myself "correcting" references more often than not. I love reference for the amount of specific details it helps you add, but you shouldn't feel like you need to make a carbon copy of something for it to be a good drawing. Edit: I found this picture that compares Norman Rockwell's reference photos to one painting. You can see that even he didn't copy it exactly, just used it for its essence. 
vonnegutt fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Oct 26, 2009 |
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Oct 26, 2009 05:17
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sneakycatmachine posted:I have a web design problem. Mostly that the graphic designers here have problems designing websites. You need to explain to him that "sizing up" images in Photoshop always results in worse image quality. He's either going to have to make you a HUGE image to start with (width = 1000 px or more, height = 5-10x that) or make a tiled solution. However, this problem looks easy enough. I'm assuming the grey on top needs to be some kind of header? Ask for an image of solid grey, either the size of the screen, or able to be tiled. There are tutorials for tiling in Photoshop, I believe there is a dialogue called Offset that can specifically be used to do that. I think if you use CSS, you can specify the alpha channel for the white so that it's slightly transparent, to show the grey texturing underneath. Furthermore, you can specify that the background does not move when you scroll, and have a solid grey background, with a translucent moving white column above it. Sadly it has been a while since I've done something like this, but it IS possible, and fairly simple.
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Oct 27, 2009 18:29
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alphaoenz posted:My local printer is running InDesign 2.0 while I have my files saved in CS4. How would I go about making my files compatible with 2.0? I'm not sure about InDesign but a lot of Adobe products have an option in the SaveAs menu to save under an older format.
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Nov 3, 2009 21:04
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I have a lot of drawings of sleeping people. They usually don't mind. This guy was sleeping in a coffeeshop.  Also, occasionally people who see my draw will ask to be drawn, and sometimes they are good models, and sometimes not. (I had a homeless guy do this once, the painting turned out okay but it was a pretty weird experience because he was totally mumbly/crazy).
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Nov 4, 2009 19:02
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How old is he? A lot of older art directors/employers basically want to know if you know Photoshop/InDesign, etc. Digital as compared to...I don't know, whatever they did before computers.
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Nov 12, 2009 21:00
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butterypancakes posted:The thing about videocopilot.net is you can spot work that's done with the tutorials from a mile away. It's better to just learn the underlying principles elsewhere. I disagree, if you find a tutorial for an effect/process you need, it's incredibly efficient to follow someone else's instructions and just get your job done. Of course, you need to know what you're looking for, as well as how to adapt it to your project. Most of my own motion graphics was learned by using tutorials; it's a great way to learn different ways of doing things, as well as learning the usage of the tools. I can never conceptualize what a tool does by reading a help menu - it's easier with an example that you recreate yourself. That said, it's also really easy to fall into a trap of adding gimmick on top of gimmick with tutorials. But I still believe it's useful to do them, just for practice, to learn new techniques.
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Nov 13, 2009 09:20
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Have you asked around at the city council? I'm sure they have a public relations person who answers questions like that. Public art is funded by tax money so I'm sure they have people who monitor exactly how it goes down.
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Dec 4, 2009 19:04
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clam posted:How do I turn a photo into a stencil for screen printing? I know there's a thread on stencils, but I don't think it actually goes into how to convert a photo (or picture) step by step. If you have Photoshop, you can use the Posterize filter to make a (somewhat lovely) two-tone (black and white only) version of a photo. However, a lot of people aren't satisfied with the results of that. If you aren't convinced of your own artistic skills, try using the filter and then tracing/filling in the small jaggy areas it creates to form large areas of solid black or white. There's not a good mechanical solution to this: most stencil artists use their own judgement to basically redraw photos so that they are only black and white.
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Mar 19, 2010 15:28
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gmc9987 posted:Ahh, OK. Well, how readable the font is at that size changes depnding on the font so you'll probably want to print out a page with the font you chose. 9 is pretty small, so you may have to go bigger. 9 is considered the smallest you can go without affecting legibility, as far as I know. However, depending on the type of printing. If it's for a photobook, they're probably using full-color high-end inkjet, which gives great color depth, but sometimes fucks with text since there's so much ink used. It might make the letters a bit thicker than some other methods, so I would get a test print and see what you think.
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Mar 31, 2010 15:04
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Have you outlined your major story arc? I would hesitate to jump right into the artwork at this point because a comic relys heavily on its narrative, and if that's not there, you'll float around a lot. Outline the whole thing, from beginning to end. Start simply, and then flesh it out as necessary. This will help you find out what the "holes" in your narrative are, and you'll be able to see how to get from point A to point B.
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Apr 27, 2010 21:20
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anaaki posted:1) Inking with a brush is hard. Is there a certain type of white out to use? I tried just a regular office type (bic?) and it dried pretty bumpy. Do you have to sand it or something? Plus it seemed to resist the ink a bit (waterproof india ink). If you bought a synthetic then you did NOT buy a sable. Both refer to the types of hairs or bristles in the brush. Natural fibers, such as sable (which is a high-end fiber, being the tail hairs of minx) hold and deposit ink much more smoothly than synthetic (plastic) fibers. Kolinsky sable, which is the very nicest of the Kolinksy siberian weasel tail hairs (no kidding), is the gold standard of sable brushes. They also can go for hundreds of dollars per brush. Buy a natural sable brush. No synthetic. Synthetic is fine for acrylic and oil painting, but with ink, you need natural hair's ability to form a perfect point and deposit ink. [edit] Squirrel hair brushes are a cheap alternative to sable. But whatever you do, stick to a natural as opposed to synthetic.
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May 13, 2010 13:36
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I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but Adobe Photoshop is industry standard for just about everything. Heck, you can even make animated GIFs with it.
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May 25, 2010 03:28
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moss piglet posted:Well, yes, I'm planning to help a friend who is creating a revision of a genus, and a few new descriptions. I'll mostly be drawing the epigyne (poony) of females, which is very diagnostic in species identification. There are a couple named something like "Scientific Illustration" IIRC? Have you googled it, or tried Amazon?
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May 25, 2010 11:03
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CloseFriend posted:This probably links into moss piglet's question. What's the best free/cheap program to get into digital inking? I have GIMP, Inkscape, and Paint.net all installed and everything, but I wanted to pick one program and stick with it. I'd probably be going for a comic-ish style, like Jimmy Palmiotti or Mike Mignola. Unfortunately, all my Googling resulted in a bunch of tutorials for the different programs on applying filters whereas I want to learn freehand. I have a tablet and I'd be willing to plunk down for ArtRage if that's the best one. I just wanted to pick one program and hit it hard to get the basics down, then expand. Inkscape is probably your best bet. For comic style inking, a vector program will give you great results and complete control over your line quality. The learning curve is extremely steep though (it's just not an intuitive process for most people) but do realize that you will get it eventually.
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Jun 14, 2010 14:42
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