Hand Painting textures, your advice

[smurfbizkit2]

Hi,

I actually asked the same question here, on the game-art board about two years ago. The best advice that I was given was to not texture, but instead go back and work on my traditional drawing and painting skills.

Texturing is just applied painting, its much easier/quicker for a painter to learn to texture than for a non-painter.

Since I've learned this (was kinda embarassed that I didnt' realize it first), I've gone and focused on improving my basic traditional art skills which has improved my texture painting dramatically. Yes it will take a great deal of time and effort, but its the only real way to break past that barrier.

Another suggestion would be for you to go through and study textures in top games, try to figure out how and why things were done. I personally love looking at the WoW textures since they not only are done with the utmost in craftsmanship, the clever use of uvmaps is mindblowing at times. Relic's Company of Heroes textures are also something I like looking at.

Hope that helps. :)

[Alexander Smith]

That's great way to start, thanks for the advice. :)

When you say traditional, do you mean Canvas and Paint, or do you mean simple painting a scene as oppose to a texture? Or can I apply traditional painting methods with digital art?

[Dtox]

I'm sure it's not what you want to hear, but it's been said by many texture artists that using photos results in a much better and photorealistic result

[Alexander Smith]

I'm sure it's not what you want to hear, but it's been said by many texture artists that using photos results in a much better and photorealistic result

Well, I DO know that the real pros of texture art hand paint the textures using photos as reference, instead of using them as a base, but some textures would be impossible to make without photographic base, at least for me.

[BlueFlare]

but it's been said by many texture artists that using photos results in a much better and photorealistic result

It's a mistake to think that photorealism is always required, heck... often it's avoided for good reasons, eample: http://thecia.com.au/reviews/s/images/shrek-2-8.jpg

[smurfbizkit2]

The knowledge of how to make photorealism from scratch will still be helpful when doing cartoony textures though, since you'll have a much better understanding of which parts to exaggerate and which to remove.

[BlueFlare]

The knowledge of how to make photorealism from scratch will still be helpful when doing cartoony textures though, since you'll have a much better understanding of which parts to exaggerate and which to remove.

There is a difference between using photorealistic textures (which I referred to) and studying them. ;)

[Dtox]

It's a mistake to think that photorealism is always required
I would never say that. I didn't mean that photorealism is always required.
I've just read many times that using photos as textures for models can often give much more photorealistic results.
If photorealism isn't the objective, then that's a moot point.

[leigh]

Well, I DO know that the real pros of texture art hand paint the textures using photos as reference, instead of using them as a base

This kind of artistic snobbery gets you nowhere. What matters is the final product, not the method used to get there. I work as a texture painter at one of the top VFX studios in the industry - and guess what? We all use photos as much as possible because they produce the best results. Does that somehow make us less of "real pros" than people who sit and hand paint everything? Certainly not.

Insisting upon hand painting everything is a pointless task. You use whatever it takes to get the job done - there is absolutely no room for artistic purity in this field.

It's obvious that you have a lot to learn.

[trancor]

Ok, enough about photos as a base or refrence, the man wants to improve his skills, not realize that using refrence can provide some insight but maybe not what he needs.

I think what makes the best hand painted, more realistic, textures are the textures made with alot more detail. Layers of colors working with each other to achieve what you are trying to go for. (layering patches of dirt, rips in cloth, scuffed paint, the things that make real life real [if that is what you are shooting for])

Not all the time textures look the best just by producing colors from a brush. I mean, I feel the brush tool is the strongest tool in photoshop, but when it comes down to it, you want to mix masks and blending modes and the grey/red/green/blue integration of the layer in layer propperties with the lower levels for a nicer look.

The more detail and the more interacting colors give different feelings then alot of basic painting. Obviously advanced painting might not need as much layering work, but I feel its the extras the make textures look nice.


edit - A man once said looking at a picture of a stream, "wheres the floating dixi cup?"

[Skjoldbroder]

This kind of artistic snobbery gets you nowhere. What matters is the final product, not the method used to get there. (...) You use whatever it takes to get the job done - there is absolutely no room for artistic purity in this field.

It's obvious that you have a lot to learn.

It's a little harshly put I think, but it's honest and I couldn't agree more. When you work as a games artist / vfx artist / whatever artist in a production context, you're not an artist. You're an artisan.

That said, though, handpainted textures definitely do have their place in games and movies, and for improving them I'd say what others have said - paint! Both in the real world and digitally, those art skills will come in handy and make it loads easier to progress. Once you know both digital techniques and traditional ones, I think you can get some very good results by blending the workflows so to speak.

[Alexander Smith]

you This kind of artistic snobbery gets you nowhere. What matters is the final product, not the method used to get there. I work as a texture painter at one of the top VFX studios in the industry - and guess what? We all use photos as much as possible because they produce the best results. Does that somehow make us less of "real pros" than people who sit and hand paint everything? Certainly not.

Insisting upon hand painting everything is a pointless task. You use whatever it takes to get the job done - there is absolutely no room for artistic purity in this field.

It's obvious that you have a lot to learn.

If you think what I said is snobbery, then I'll say that it's not my fault. That's what I've heard, not my own personal opinion, and it looks whoever told me was wrong. Good! I like using photos for reference and for bases, I just thought that pro artist didn't do that.

[trancor]

And plus, it's not what gets the job done, it's when the deadline is, if it is crunch time, and frankly, I perfer to hand paint my own textures. If you know the programs, you know your skills, you know what needs to get done, and you know the art style your supervisor is going for; THAT is what determines if you use a photo as a base or not.

[stylEmon]

i think its great that you want to up the bar. i see nothing wrong with using photos as a base or reference. If you have no deadline, then paint away. What better way to imporve than to take the long way around. try mixing traditional art with digital art. that may help you improve both skills. as an artist, nothing is more important than traditional arts. maybe you could do some charcoal or pencil drawings of the subject, then repaint over it digitally.

it's great to have an actual subject (opposed to a pic) so that you may try different light schemes and angles.

I agree that there is no room in a professional setting for 'purity' as stated above. but as a student of art, you can challenge yourself and put what ever restraints on your projects that you think will help you grow.

[Alpha-Leader]

I study game textures. Any game that has a level editor or a Devkit usally has access to textures. Some great games with textures are Unreal and Oblivion.


Edit: If you have time then you can create baked textures using 3d geometry to step your textures to the next level. Zbrush and normal mapping work wonders on gritty\rusty textures now days.

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