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Fishamit
11-05-2007, 06:57 PM
Hi,
I'm new to digital painting. Up until now i've been using papers and pencils but i've decided to move on to colors and a Wacom tablet. I'm having lots of fun with the tablet, but I'm also having some trouble!

I pretty much got used to the feeling, but I'm having a hard time understanding the techniques required to paint in PS CS3.

The way I do it, is first of all I draw line art, then I do flats. here is the first problem - How do I make sure that the flats' edges are straight? Like when I delete the line layer, I'm left with the flats layer but the edges are curly sometimes. should i just fix it with the eraser, or is there a tool / technique to prevent this from happening? maybe like a "fill" tool?

Second problem - is when I start shading. I've been reading tons of tutorials, and each one uses it's own method of shading. Is there a "best" way of doing that? from what I've seen there's the soft brush way - just draw shadows with a darker color, and the hard brush, (using a low opacity and flow hard brush and the ALT key, with about 2 base colors). I like the second one better because I hate soft brushes, but which one is actually better?

And the third and final question is - how do you make straight lines using a tablet? (I know about the shift key but it's only 90/180 degrees. If I use a ruler with the Wacom, will it scratch?


Thank you very much for taking the time to read this!
CooKiez
11-05-2007, 11:26 PM
Yeah that's pretty the same problem with me.

So when you hold modifier* key which is shift/ or if you programmed this key onto your tablet just like me; just change settings of your pen tablet..., you are able to draw straight lines in 90/180 degrees, as you said so. While you are using your brush, tap/click some point on blank space; make a dot and then hold shift and make another dot somewhere else that provides a straight line in every degree you want. I'd never found this comfortable in use, ruler+ tablet seems to be useless, unless there is a special tool.

For shading I'm feeling good with hard edged brush, firstly paint first colour and then put another, use low opacity to blend, it can be 2,3 or more colours. Practice with greyscale for best results.


My biggest problem is how people make all that perfect lines, I bought a DvD where 'Feng Zhu' renders a robot from concepts he made before, I know that to make lines in painter you have to use hairy brush or something like that but what about the photoshop?
SpaXe
11-06-2007, 12:08 AM
Hey, welcome to the world of digital painting. I'm only first year myself. ;)

For a straight line, I have found either the polygon lasso tool or the pen tool is best. Or you can hand painti it straight. (Paint the color, then erase it away for a straight edge in a fast fashion.)

Have fun.
mark-jenkins
11-06-2007, 12:29 PM
To draw a straight line in photoshop at any angle just draw a dot where you want your line to start then hold down shift and draw a second dot where you want your line to end, it's as simple as that. Note though, that you must have "other dynamics" switched off for your brush in the brushes pallette or your line will gradually fade to nothing as you draw (unless this is what you want). Hope this makes sense and helps.

Also there is no best way just what ever way you prefer, so try different methods and pick the one that gives you the best results!
Fishamit
11-06-2007, 02:12 PM
Thanks a lot for the replys!
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