Zephyri,
That’s looking amazing! Really astounding progress, just can’t wait to see this finished! 
Maladie,
I continue to be so impressed with your progress! It’s always fun to feel that you’re learning to master something ~ I think we all naturally like rules and it’s great to see when following a specific course yields positive results…keep going, you’re doing great so far!
Cheers, 
~Rebeccak
Omg I cannot believe that I missed this thread! Such exellent work. Zhuzhu, amazing stuff. Digitalsol, great start, i loved your last one. Rebecca, those textures are great!
Grr, must finish this ones, i’ve started differently.
Anyway here it is, quick start, I know the right eye is mashed but meh, I’m tired. Goodnight.
Jack,
Great to see you on board this one! Just bear in mind that these start up around every 2~4 weeks. We’re only in week 1, so you’ve got three more weeks on this one, plenty of time!
Great start, and thanks for the compliment!
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Thanks for your awesome reply Rebecca, I’m new to going colour straight away, looking to learn lots from this one, i did in the last one.
I nicked one of my grandads books on Rembrant, called Rembrants eyes. It was really interesting, had some of his early paintings when he was fifteen, same as me because my birthday was last week Please excuse me for my absence lately, been really busy with school and coursework and stuff.
Cheers,
Jack
Hi Rebecca and Everyone
Started working on the face today. Just roughing it in - long ways to go.
Having a hard time trying to get that little smile he has going on.
I can’t believe how many colors he puts underneath his colors!
Take Care
Glenn
Hello All! I’ve been checking out these workshops for a while now, and have really wanted to participate. I started on #14, but got swamped with work and life and didn’t make significant headway on it.
Here’s my start on this one. About 90 minutes, including one Photoshop crash (I need to save more often!) Sorry it’s so dark… got started on the highlights, but I gotta wrap it up for today.
Glenn,
Great update! I like that you’re straight painting this one ~ it’s looking really solid!
ThreedyModeler,
Great to see you aboard this one! I think it’s better to start out too dark than too light ~ nice start, looking forward to your next update!
/me goes to do some needed cleaning.
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
THANKS…Rebecca…
REALLY ENJOYING THIS ONE, AND THAT METHOD OF PAINTING…
TAKE CARE
Glenn
Originally posted by tayete: Well, here is my temporary advance. I hope this weekend I may be able to add some more detail:
I’ll work in Painter IX (it rocks!), and well, I first created a small colour palette (you may watch the colour watches at the right) which will guide me more or less… I just used the technique described in Lynda.com’s Colour DVD (which you MUST buy, it is the most comprehensible colours lessons I’ve ever had) to create that palette…
Then, I just started by creating a document the same size as the reference pic, with a medium grey background, and started doodling. After I started to paint with some oils I noticed my sketch had some flaws (for example, his left hand is not exactly at the same point as Rembrandt’s one…).
Well, I hope I’ll finish this!
Tayete, welcome aboard! I didn’t see your post earlier, but it’s great to see a new person join! Looking forward to your next steps, it looks like you have a great start!
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Rebecca…how are you doing the color…are you trying out Enrique’s method for coloring,
just curious…that method he used on that last painting really amazed me…I did not
understand how it worked, because I don’t use photo shop, but I was pretty surprized by it.
Am curious to see if any of the coloring methods work besides just eyeballing the colors on a
Rembrant…he used so many colors…:shrug:
I like your painting so far, was wodering if you are planning on going into it with the brushy look, like you did recently. I really liked those paintings and that style…those kind of strokes would look great on top of your curent painting I think…would really give it that extra punch.
plus you said that you really enjoyed painting in that brushy style, if I remember corectly.
Can’t wait to see how you merge the two styles, if that is the direction you decide to take.
Just saw your golden version…like that one a lot …
TAKE CARE
Glenn
Glenn,
Here are the steps I took ~ you can easily toggle through all of the different blending modes for a layer (described in depth below) by click on the layer and Shift + =. Each blending mode will give you a different result, and so I just play with Blending Modes, Color, and Opacity of a layer until I'm happy with the results.
[img]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/rebeccak5/OFDW%20016/Colorize-steps.gif[/img]
[left]I plan to paint back over this, sampling the colors created using blending modes.
Blending Modes are described as following in PS Help:
The blending mode specified in the options bar controls how pixels in the image are affected by a painting or editing tool. It’s helpful to think in terms of the following colors when visualizing a blending mode’s effect:
[ul]
[li]The base color is the original color in the image.[/li]> [li]The blend color is the color being applied with the painting or editing tool.[/li]> [li]The result color is the color resulting from the blend. [/li]
[/ul]
To select a blending mode for a tool:Choose from the Mode pop-up menu in the options bar.
Normal
Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This is the default mode. (Normal mode is called Threshold when you’re working with a bitmapped or indexed-color image.)
Dissolve
Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. However, the result color is a random replacement of the pixels with the base color or the blend color, depending on the opacity at any pixel location.
Behind
Edits or paints only on the transparent part of a layer. This mode works only in layers with Lock Transparency deselected and is analogous to painting on the back of transparent areas in a sheet of acetate.
Clear
Edits or paints each pixel and makes it transparent. This mode is available for the Line tool Line tool (when fill region Fill Pixels icon is selected), the Paint Bucket tool Paint Bucket tool , the Brush tool Brush tool , the Pencil tool Pencil tool , the Fill command, and the Stroke command. You must be in a layer with Lock Transparency deselected to use this mode.
Darken
Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color–whichever is darker–as the result color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change.
Multiply
Looks at the color information in each channel and multiplies the base color by the blend color. The result color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color with black produces black. Multiplying any color with white leaves the color unchanged. When you’re painting with a color other than black or white, successive strokes with a painting tool produce progressively darker colors. The effect is similar to drawing on the image with multiple magic markers.
Color Burn
Looks at the color information in each channel and darkens the base color to reflect the blend color by increasing the contrast. Blending with white produces no change.
Linear Burn
Looks at the color information in each channel and darkens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing the brightness. Blending with white produces no change.
Lighten
Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color–whichever is lighter–as the result color. Pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the blend color do not change.
Screen
Looks at each channel’s color information and multiplies the inverse of the blend and base colors. The result color is always a lighter color. Screening with black leaves the color unchanged. Screening with white produces white. The effect is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides on top of each other.
Color Dodge
Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing the contrast. Blending with black produces no change.
Linear Dodge
Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by increasing the brightness. Blending with black produces no change.
Overlay
Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base color. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows of the base color. The base color is not replaced but is mixed with the blend color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original color.
Soft Light
Darkens or lightens the colors, depending on the blend color. The effect is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the image.
If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened as if it were dodged. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened as if it were burned in. Painting with pure black or white produces a distinctly darker or lighter area but does not result in pure black or white.
Hard Light
Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the blend color. The effect is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the image.
If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened, as if it were screened. This is useful for adding highlights to an image. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened, as if it were multiplied. This is useful for adding shadows to an image. Painting with pure black or white results in pure black or white.
Vivid Light
Burns or dodges the colors by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened by decreasing the contrast. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened by increasing the contrast.
Linear Light
Burns or dodges the colors by decreasing or increasing the brightness, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened by increasing the brightness. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened by decreasing the brightness.
Pin Light
Replaces the colors, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the blend color do not change. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change. This is useful for adding special effects to an image.
Difference
Looks at the color information in each channel and subtracts either the blend color from the base color or the base color from the blend color, depending on which has the greater brightness value. Blending with white inverts the base color values; blending with black produces no change.
Exclusion
Creates an effect similar to but lower in contrast than the Difference mode. Blending with white inverts the base color values. Blending with black produces no change.
Hue
Creates a result color with the luminance and saturation of the base color and the hue of the blend color.
Saturation
Creates a result color with the luminance and hue of the base color and the saturation of the blend color. Painting with this mode in an area with no (0) saturation (gray) causes no change.
Color
Creates a result color with the luminance of the base color and the hue and saturation of the blend color. This preserves the gray levels in the image and is useful for coloring monochrome images and for tinting color images.
Luminosity
Creates a result color with the hue and saturation of the base color and the luminance of the blend color. This mode creates an inverse effect from that of the Color mode.
Cheers,
[left]
~Rebeccak
[/left]
[/left]
THANK YOU …Rebecca…I THINK…:banghead:
Almost the same effect that I get in painter, when I tint the whole painting, and then shine
colored spot lights on different areas of the painting…and then ajust the contrast, color,
values ect, afterwards.
IS the method you are using the same as the method that Enrique decribed while doing the
Caravaggio painting, or is Enrique’s method totally different…just curious…it seemed like
Enriquie was able to pinpoint small areas of color, like grapes, bread, shirt sleeves, ect, and
superimpose them on his monochromatic golden colored version.
Not trying to make your head hurt or anything…LOL …was just curious.
TAKE CARE
Glenn
Reb - You make that look like once you get the rendering down, you can just pick and choose a color scheme. Not trying to take away any talent that is in here, but you made it look like it was almost cheating compared to traditional art work.
I know this is probably going to open up a can of worms. I do not have any means of digital art knowledge. Be nice to me and explain it. I do want to get into it but just do not have the funds for all the stuff right now.
Hi …aggie…Boy are you in big troble now…worms everywhere…LOL…JUST KIDDING…
TAKE CARE
Glenn
Aggie,
Ah, welcome to Digital Art Debate 101. ;)
Cheating...hmm, well, in traditional work, many 'Old Masters' built up a monochrome or black and white or brown / white underpainting, and then glazed with multiple successive layers of thin paint on top.
[Leonardo da Vinci](http://www.welcometuscany.it/tuscany_photo_gallery/arezzo_anghiari_Battle_standard_leonardo_da_vinci_paint.jpg) is a great example of this.
If I waited for for hours before creating a new blending mode layer, would this then not be 'cheating'? :) Digital art is faster, and this debate is not one that is likely to end.
I've spent so much time focusing on grayscale pieces because of a number of reasons. The first is that I know that the value structure matters far more than the colors placed on top. Even in traditional painting, the drawing is FAR more important than the colors used. You may have heard the mantra, Drawing IS Painting. Michelangelo said this, I believe.
Apart from this, as an artist, I am using Photoshop ~ Photoshop is not using me. Photoshop did not make the value structure choices for me, I did. Nor does Photoshop know how to draw or to make proportional judgements, I do. Photoshop does not know what colors look good together and what looks ‘right’, that’s me. The tool never does the entire job for you ~ that’s quite clear from all of the different results we are seeing here on this thread. Each person’s personality is coming out through their discriminating use of digital tools.
The second reason I've focused so much on grayscale is because I know how quickly one can add color with the use of Blending Modes. Yep, it's loads faster than allowing a canvas to dry for days before going back to it and painting again. But, let's put it this way ~ is using a pre~stretched canvas that you buy at the artstore 'cheating'? Shouldn't you stretch it yourself? Or, if you go further, shouldn't you grow the cotton, grow the tree for the wood, cut it down, and make it into the canvas supports, make the nails from metal you've mined, put the support together, stretch the canvas, and then go about making your gesso and brushes and paints? :) Digital art has made me realize the extent to which oil paint and acrylic paint and even a charcoal pencil is a technology. You and I don't create those tools, Aggie, or understand their chemical properties any more than we understand the technology that enables digital artists to use the blending Modes of Photoshop to add color.
If I get a good result quickly, it's in part thanks to the technology, but it's also due to my years of traditional training. These days, however, people can start totally from a digital beginning and improve quickly, thanks to the tools. But a person still has to have skill and be willing and able to learn the basic principles of art. That's why we're focusing here in these Workshops on a Master Copy ~ not to emulate the exact way in which the painting was constructed ~ that would take years, not weeks, after all ~ but to learn the basic aspects of drawing, color, composition, value, etc. In fact, this is really the whole purpose behind the Workshop ~ to emphasize that principles inherent in traditional art should be carried over to Digital Art. However, digital art is distinct from traditional art, and by no means is the purpose of digital art to replicate the traditional MEANS of achieving a digital end.
To think of it another way, Aggie, what happens if you take away oil paints and acrylics and pencils and pens, canvas, and paper? Are you an artist then? An artist relies on his or her tools. Photoshop is a digital tool, meant to be used. It has properties which enable certain things to be faster. For example, a pencil and paper enable you to make marks on a page. It's a tool / technology that lets you do something that you couldn't do without them. And the same with oil paint. You can get marvelous effects with oil paint, thanks in large part to the [i]paint [/i]itself and the [i]brushes [/i]and [i]canvas [/i]~ not you. Tools are as much a part of being an artist as is talent and hard work. Photoshop is a tool. It is as much a part of being a digital artist as is talent and hard work.
Other 'cheating' analogies ~ driving a car is faster than walking. Is driving 'cheating'? Well, it's not walking, it's driving. It enables you to do something faster. Another analogy is this: communication in it's original form is through talking face to face or by writing letters on paper. Are we 'cheating' by communicating through the internet? Are we cheating because it's faster? Should we all abandon the internet and go back to just speaking to only those people we would encounter in our real lives, because that is communiation in it's 'purest', most original form?
That being said, not everyone who purchases a copy of Photoshop is going to become an artist. A person using a digital painting program has to be able to make the same kind of judgements as a traditional artist.
It's a subject that will likely always be debated as long as digital and traditional art are around. To my mind, as long as someone doesn't trace / sample colors from the original, or downright copy / paste elements into their own work, all of the other digital tools on hand are there to be used.
[b]Glenn,[/b]
Everyone approaches things a little differently. I am laying down the biggest areas first and will refine later. This is WIP, remember. ;) You don't have to fill an entire layer set to a blending mode with color ~ you can carefully paint just a grape, and leave the rest of the painting untouched. I could do the same thing on any or all objects of a painting. It just depends on the individual artists' approach.
Cheers, :)
~RebeccakPsst, aggie: “Undo” would also be a cheat in some sense of the word. 
Too early in the day for a coherent reply beyond that.