Custom Concept Brushes - your thoughts?

#1

I wondering what peoples thoughts are towards PS custom brushes and thier workflow.

Specifically I have watched the Gnommon ‘From Speed Painting to Concept Art’

and I found the brush techniques to be mindblowing to me. Straight away I have been taking pictures with my digital camera to edit and create brushes from and now im blazing environmental settings like I never knew I could.

These techniques have totally made me see illustration in a new light - they’re amazing and I really like it because: I can now add elements and concentrate on Composition and experiment very quickly with it.

But I feel that my brushes might leave my image looking slightly ‘souless’, could this be true? it just doesnt look like I drew it - these pictures are a stranger to me!

Also - am I embarking on the ‘Poser’ of illustration?

so what are your thoughts?
other positives to add?
are brushes like this a cop out?
is basing an image from random strokes really creating when it wasnt in your minds eye to begin with?

Thankyou!

#2

I personally think they’re great–depending how the brushes are used. When used right, it gives the image a more graphic design quality (almost like stamping repeated shapes creatively). But when it’s too obvious it’ll detract from the impact of the image, because in a way it’s like seeing the strings on a puppet–you lose a bit of the magic.

#3

It’s a question I’ve pondered a lot. I have a bit of an aversion to brushes that do too much work for you, but to deny oneself the use of brushes that can clearly increase productivity and enjoyment is unnecessary asceticism.

Two open-ended questions to ask yourself:

  1. Given the same brushes, could someone with little or no artistic experience produce similar results?
  2. Without these brushes, could you produce results that display understanding of composition, form, etc. on par with your current results?

I try to ask myself these questions when embarking on brush experiments in Photoshop.

The thing is, no artist makes his/her art completely from scratch. Oil painters are given some texture that they don’t have to create by hand–their brushes have a lot of interesting textural punch to them, particularly when used well. Watercolor artists may allow colors to bleed; they’re not controlling every particle of pigment in the water, so they have to let the medium take over to some extent. In any artistic medium, you can’t control everything.

To avoid getting into too much argument with myself, I try to avoid using photographic elements in my brushes. Sometimes I feel stupid being so finnicky, but I feel a little better about the so-called “artistic integrity” of my brushes–i.e. I’m not just stamping a photo onto the digital canvas and calling it a new piece of art. I also try to avoid creating brushes that literally depict the object I’m trying to paint, though there are plenty of exceptions here. (One good example is a wave brush I made; I painted a single wave, then turned it into a brush. Lots of layering with appropriate colors and low opacities can produce a convincing ocean surface.)

Are you controlling the brush, or is it controlling you? Neither possibility is “better” than the other, per se, but the former is certainly better for improving your own artistic abilities.

#4

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