i don’t know where sterling heights is…i take classes at a community college in santa cruz…there is a digital media department and i am studying maya in the engineering tech department…so from my perspective if you are very self motivated…and want a little bit of structure…and access to programs so you can work out your own path…the advantage here is that you can spend as much time as you want…and if you are just begining to work on the computer…i think it takes much more time to get a handle on things and translate your artistry into 2d or 3d than you would think…i don’t begin to get enough from either department and rely on tutorials and this sight for info in the real world of CG! this is an expensive area to live in! but it is also in the hub of one of the centers of the industry!
How many of you artist have traditional painting experience?
Been painting traditionally since about 1987, and I really only started painting digitally around 2001.
I paint in acrylics small pieces (18 x 24) and now and then I do mural work.
Been painting since I was 16 and drawing since I was 12.
-R
I used to paint a lot traditionally then stopped doing any art related stuff at all.
Just this week I thought “hmm, I really want to start painting again…” and went out and bought myself a few canvas boards and a set of oils, time to see if I can even remember how to use them…
-Steve
sticks two fingers high in the air
oh…oh… I made two paintings with acrylics … they sucked, but they’re paintings allright.
I studied fine arts in university, BFA in painting and printmaking…
I used to enjoy doing a lot of work with oils/oilpastels washes with mineral spirits…but alas anything solvent now makes me far too dizzy… ( you can do really nice stuff with charcoal on heavy paper and brush it around with mineral spirits too but it all evaporates into your face as you work)
so these days i like watercolors, oilpastels ( no washes though )…I think nowadays I have an aversion to making a huge mess
Do it.
You will learn so much, I cannot emphasise enough how much life drawing / painting from life will help.
Try it and see, it’s not easy, it’s not quick but there is NOTHING that will sort you out faster than a bit of life drawing.
-SteveI made a few strokes and they sucked. I never tried a real painting before. I wanted to until I found photoshop and painter. I may one day pick up the paintbrush again.
I have a lot of traditional painting experience, mostly oils and water colors, and I find that it comes in handy when doing things in digital art. I can use my old techniques from natural media in the digital realm with no problem. I do nothing but digital art in my Game Art major but for art therapy I do traditional media. There’s something nice about having a real piece of art in your hands that is really there and not just a bunch of ones and zeros in a computer.
I am Graphic Designer.I have also traditional painting experience specialy pencil sketching since 1996. In these days I do my most of work on computer. I am still looking the way to work as traditional way in the computer. I am planing to buy Inous and Corel Painter for this purpose.
I don’t have any traditional painting experience. I was much too poor to even think about affording paints, and it was some sort of amazing luck that I was able to get Photoshop (someone sold me their unopened version for very little money because their parents had bought him CS). So I’m learning how to “paint” on the computer because that’s the best I can do right now.
I plan on learning traditional paints in the future though. I still have to paint for school though…
Same thing one of my instructors at school said. Somehow you seem to get the feeling much faster when you start out traditional first he said.
Traditional = Expensive is a popular myth, sure a tube of purest ultramarine is expensive but that tube will last you two years and if you’re just starting out, buy the student range.
Canvas is expensive but you can paint on primered/sanded plywood or hardboard or whatever it’s called in America.
Keep it out of direct sunlight and most of the cheap studenty ranges will survive for many years.
( put it this way, the most tested and lightfast of products are only guaruanteed for about 100 years under museum conditions…)
-NG-- go for it, it really will help, I can almost guarantee it…
I studied painting for 3 years at memphis college of art before I got sick of painting and switched to computer graphics and animation. I always preferred drawing. Its more direct, more immediate. I never cared for mixing the colors, diluting, cleaning the brushes (OH! the brushes, always cleaning the brushes!) Back when I was painting, my clothes were always filthy. I enjoy having clothes that are free of stains now!
Now If I feel like painting, I usually reach for markers, its more direct. Painting in photoshop with my wacom is wonderful too. I still crank out an oil painting every now and then, maybe once a year, simply to touch base with the medium again.
All that being said, I encourage you to spend a few years with the medium before moving on to digital painting exclusively. If for no other reason than to appreciate digital paint more!
Back in the dim dark ages I did a little oil painting and a fair amount of pen n ink work. I am relatively new to the digital world, I guess, but it is SOOOOOOO much better. I fell into 3D in a big way but am now moving into 2D and photoshop.
Where’s the undo button when you are painting?
Where’s the copy/paste?
I just wish I had a wacom tablet :sad:
i still do oil paintings and watercolors. i have a fine arts degree and all that junk.
right now most of my stuff is computer and 3d. there’s something about oil paint that just rules so much.
I’m student in cg and i have a lot of traditional course this year, we must try the maximum of techniques to developp artistic capabilities but we got mainly watercolor and acrylic for painting, i must admit watercolor is not so bad, we can make pretty nice things like skies and rough design…
I agree with the fact that it’s an expensive practice 
When you come with nothing and you got the list with brushes, paint,papers etc… ouch it hurts :\
Cg isn’t exactly cheap either (a whole lot more than any amount I ever spent on art supplies…)
pc 1000$… 3d package~3000 etc etc
when’s the last time you spent 4k on paint and brushes? FYI it’s all relative you can make decent stuff with the children’s watercolor’s sets and a couple of decent brushes…spending under 10$ on that plus paper
I don’t think so, buying the material is expensive at first (when you get all the hardware). When you have all the tools you need, the only somewhat pricey stuff is the paper/boards and canvas.