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.
I tried it last year, but it didn’t really worked out the way I had planned. the paint ended up everywhere but on the canvas, and thats why I prefer digital. You have an undo button 
I’ve been thinking about giving it another try, though.
I do create art the trditional way sometimes. I use colored pencils and markers, and there are times that i combine the traditional and digital. i draw something, scan it, and add a few extra “special effects” with the computer, like lensflares and texture. it’s fun to see in how many ways you can combine the best of both worlds this way, I really recommend it!
I have an experince at drawing with pincel and drawing on a canves with acrilic … I dont know if that what you mean … but it need paichants 
I’m more of an analog artist too, currently finishing my B.F.A. already completed my drawing concentration and now taking the last painting credits required to finish the paining concentration…
Digital is super fun though, no mess! and you don’t swallow chemicals…
I used to make traditional paintings mainly with gouache and water painting 8 to 10 years back. Too bad I gave it up.
Also trad here. I draw a good bit and the classes that have helped me the most are life figure drawing. That class helps you plenty imo. Once you have the idea of gesture you can gesture everything in the world and later detail it. I use to go into details first all the time and my works ended up badly. Figure drawing is a course to take. Another class is color theory. Color theory really helps you understand how colors act side by side and also helps you on setting up a composition based on color. Atm I do not have space for much trad so I paint mostly on my PC… Which is good I needed more practice painting in digital.
