New to digi 2d

[Lunatique]

If you are serious about becoming a good artist, then stay away from filters until you have mastered drawing/painting. Filters will do more harm than good when you use them because they are all you know and are used as a crutch. The way good artists use filters is very different from how other people use filters, and it's as obvious as night and day when you compare the two.

What you need now is to get a tablet if you don't already have one (Wacom is the most well known), and then simply draw and paint with it as you would traditionally. If you can draw and paint well, you can create compelling works with just one simple round brush and nothing else--no filters, no gimmicks, no layers, no undo's--just the most basic round brush and the color picker, on a single layer. If you can't do that, then you haven't quite learned enough yet, and until you get there, filters will probably be more of a crutch than an aid.

[DigitalBlaspheme]

Can it be done with a mouse? A tablet is kind of outside my price range. So far the only issue I've seen with the mouse is the time it takes and the lack of control. Maybe it just takes a bit of patience.

[Lunatique]

Well, it can be done, but it's a lot like trying to cook with a hammer and a screwdriver instead of the right tools. You wouldn't try to chop wood with a kitchen knife, so why would you want to draw/paint with a mouse? You can get the cheaper line of tablets--even those are far better than any mouse.

[archerion]

I bought a 70 dollar one at best buy to learn on it works really well. I believe is the Wacom Saphire (Graphire 3). Ill be upgrading to an better one but this one has been very good to me.

[Maidith]

A tablet may seem expensive at first sight, but in the long term it costs no more than traditional art materials such as oil paints. It's an one-time investition, where oil paints and canvases have to be re-bought.
If you're serious about digital painting, it pays off to invest in a good tablet. Even Wacom has some in a lower price range, like the Bamboo.

And some of my favorite tips:

- Learn from the masters. Copy works you adore. Not for imitating the artist or showcasing your copy, but for the sake of learning. Don't be shy, ask your favorite artist everything you want to know, such as "What paper do you draw on?", or "How do you go about painting a picture, do you start with a sketch?", etc. But be specific, don't ask "how can I paint like that?". And check the artist's website, chances are they already have tutorials, a FAQ or step-by-step tutorials there.

- Draw from life. It's probably the most valuable practice that there is. Sign up for a life drawing class so that you'll be actually "forced" to do it. Believe me, it works wonders.
As for studying anatomy from books about figure drawing (Loomis, Bammes, etc.) a good exercise is to copy the body parts and figures in there and then trying to draw the same from your mind to see how much you remembered.

- Look up tutorials. Browse through the tutorial section and study the many different ways and media of the different artists. Also visit the websites of the great artists here - many have tutorials up there.

- Collect pictures. On my harddisk, I have different folders of art.
They are very inspiring to browse through and can give you new ideas in terms of technique. Whenever I feel uninspired, I look through my folders.
The images I've collected over time, mainly from Cgtalk.com, Deviantart, Epilogue, Artrenewal.org and many other websites.

[DigitalBlaspheme]

I'm currently looking at 2 different tablets at best buy, not sure which to get. there is a 4x6 wacom and a larger one (not sure of the size). Is there anything specific to look for, or is it more of a personal choice type deal?




And some of my favorite tips:

- Learn from the masters. Copy works you adore. Not for imitating the artist or showcasing your copy, but for the sake of learning. Don't be shy, ask your favorite artist everything you want to know, such as "What paper do you draw on?", or "How do you go about painting a picture, do you start with a sketch?", etc. But be specific, don't ask "how can I paint like that?". And check the artist's website, chances are they already have tutorials, a FAQ or step-by-step tutorials there.

- Draw from life. It's probably the most valuable practice that there is. Sign up for a life drawing class so that you'll be actually "forced" to do it. Believe me, it works wonders.
As for studying anatomy from books about figure drawing (Loomis, Bammes, etc.) a good exercise is to copy the body parts and figures in there and then trying to draw the same from your mind to see how much you remembered.

- Look up tutorials. Browse through the tutorial section and study the many different ways and media of the different artists. Also visit the websites of the great artists here - many have tutorials up there.

- Collect pictures. On my harddisk, I have different folders of art.
They are very inspiring to browse through and can give you new ideas in terms of technique. Whenever I feel uninspired, I look through my folders.
The images I've collected over time, mainly from Cgtalk.com, Deviantart, Epilogue, Artrenewal.org and many other websites.Thanks for the tips, most I already do most of this (which is a good thing to know im doing the right crap). I havne't done any "life drawing" classes, but I do spend hours on end at the bus/train station and at the mall just drawing what I see. My fav is heading over to the philadelphia art museum, or the internet, and plopping down by some interesting scultpure/painting and going at it.

I can re-create anything I see with almost any medium (but i'm color blind so I never draw anything that RELIES on color) like pen/pencil/charcoal/clay when it comes to paint I usually stick to just darker pics where I can hide the poor choice of color in shadows. I started way back when just drawing every panel in every comic I ever saw. I wish I had a scanner so I could show you guys what I mean, but I assume you already have an idea. I cannot draw from my own imagination though lol. Unless I'm just drawing hands...I can do those from my mind just fine. I've read all of loomis' books from front to back and even have notes scribbled in the 3 hard copies I do have (garg the horror lol).

I'm currently working on tutorials for gimp just to learn my way around it, and I'm starting to get pretty decent at it. However most tutorials I find are for things I'll never ever do, like creating a logo or creating a button, or something equally useless (as far as I can see). I have found one good tutorial that taught me how to change a any pic into line art I could use as a guide which is perfect because the real reason I want to get into 2d painting is so my self created textures don't look like they were done on paint lol and now at least i know how to convert that uv map with the white bacground into a uv map with a transparent background. I'm sure that sounds basic to you guys but yeah....thats where I am lol. For as "intuitive" as the gimp claims to be.....its not very.

[Lunatique]

The most popular size is the 6x8 since it's roughly the same dimensions as a sketchbook. I've used the smaller ones and it's not bad at all--in fact I think it's better to get a smaller but better model than a bigger but lesser model. Any larger than 6x8 starts to feel clunky to me. If you plan on being able to use the tilt function of brushes (like with Corel Painter), then I highly recommend you get a model that has tilt detection.

[DigitalBlaspheme]

Got the bamboo today. Funny how they charge $79 for the bambo that is 5.7 X 3.something but wanted $199 for the 4 X 6 version. I'm no math major, but god did give me common sense lol.

[DigitalBlaspheme]

I'm a bit upset. There was no mouse and no included software. I'm figuring out now who to blame for that. I'll look into photo shop or something cause this thing freezes up the gimp something fierce.

[Kawe]

If you're already good at traditional painting you should look to recreate the tools you use inside your painting software. In Photoshop that would be messing around with the brushes. Usually the presets are pretty good but you may want to try to really customize it to get it just the way you want it.

After that you don't really need much more to get started creating good looking things. A brush and a way to pick colors is all you need really.

When you've gotten used to that you can start looking at other ways to optimize your workflow in digital painting. I'd suggest trying out layer blend modes and mastering those as well as the common image adjustments such as levels, curves, hue/saturation.

I'd also suggest picking up some DVDs from Gnomon Workshop. I've learned a great deal about workflow from them.

And yea. I think using Photoshop is wise. It is way easier to get help as well as finding tutorials. Now I only tried GIMP for about 5 seconds before uninstalling it so I'm not really being too fair :)

[DigitalBlaspheme]

If you're already good at traditional painting you should look to recreate the tools you use inside your painting software. In Photoshop that would be messing around with the brushes. Usually the presets are pretty good but you may want to try to really customize it to get it just the way you want it.


When you've gotten used to that you can start looking at other ways to optimize your workflow in digital painting. I'd suggest trying out layer blend modes and mastering those as well as the common image adjustments such as levels, curves, hue/saturation.

This is the crap I need to learn! lol I did get photoshop 3 last night, for some reason 4 wont install properly....guess I gotta wait till it hits the market? So I'll leave any judgements till I get my legit copies, however from what I did do with ps and corel.....I like the gimp better. It's a bit more intuitive than I thought it was at least compared to my first impressions of ps and corel paint shop pro.

[Lunatique]

Got the bamboo today. Funny how they charge $79 for the bambo that is 5.7 X 3.something but wanted $199 for the 4 X 6 version. I'm no math major, but god did give me common sense lol.

No, the $199 for 4x6 is the Intuos line, not the Bamboo line. The Intuos is the professional line from Wacom. Also, in their product descriptions, they clearly state what is included in the package. Did you look at Wacom's product descriptions carefully? www.wacom.com (http://www.wacom.com)

[DigitalBlaspheme]

at best buy there were only 2 models. I got the bamboo fun which was 79 and the bamboo was 199

[DigitalBlaspheme]

I can see what I've been missing and why my digital paintings have come out like crap. There is SOOO much more functionality using the drawing pad than a mouse. I just have to get used to the actual programs e.g working in layers (working without them has proven to be a serious time waister) and learning the different settings with the brushes (normal/divide/multiply/add/subtract?), but I've already seen a drastic improvement in not only time taken but the "transference" of my "style" as the mouse severely made it look either to mechanical or like a kid drew it.


Everyone using a mouse......STOP. Get a drawing pad lol.

The only downside is if you don't hold the pen as they tell you to, or hold the pad itself in the way the screens are (having dual screens is wierd for the pad). For example, when drawing something out (or writing in general), being left handed, I like to hold my paper so that the length runs on the top and bottom while still treating the width as teh top and bottom. Doing this with the pad is completely confusing.

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