Hello, I am new to digital painting. I have my wacom cintiq and everything and will be using photoshop as I see it is a must for digital artist for photographs or any other type of style, concept is the one I like. I wanted to ask many of you what do you recommend for learning besides time and effort, as in maybe videos, books? Is painter easier to learn for just art? I am very open minded, also any links to brush packets as I see photoshop has only a limited amount. Thanks in advance everyone!
Learning photoshop
Jettatore
#2
The Lynda stuff is about the best IMO. They have online stuff as well as seperate full DVD’s for all sorts of training. There’s a lot of it, but it’s mostly all good. Websites a bit of a pain to navigate.
Newest DVD’s (recommended): http://store.lynda.com/category.aspx?categoryid=438&startpage=0
Online stuff: http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk0=192
You can narrow the down further to your version of Photoshop, even the older training is relevant but they did update everything for CS4, even the older courses. I’d just go with the DVD’s for your level if you can afford it, it’s expensive.
gruhn
#3
You got the important part down - just keep drawing.
Adobe has some good material online. Oh, and the Frank Black guy… Richard Harrington. A bunch of little snippets with him on .csfour.
Don’t discount youtube. There’s garbage and there’s gems there.
You got the second part down - find a forum. There’s a 2b to that - try to have more specific questions ;-).
Dynasty929
#4
Gruhn and Jetta thanks for the advice. I guess my question really is I want to learn how to paint as if I were using oils, how to go from a sketch and paint it using colors and blending those colors right. So i guess it comes down to what brush settings, the opacity, and how to use layers within photoshop to really create a painterly or atleast somewhat of a feeling.
Jettatore
#5
(I posted this before to a similar question, so I’m pasting it here for you)
My preferred settings for digital painting… (There are two places to find brush options, by pressing F5 and opening the Brush settings window, and also, at the top of the screen in the toolbar when a brush is selected you get a few other options)
Any regular round brush. Hardness between 0 and 15% and spacing between 0 and 25%.
In the presets only leave on smoothing and other dynamics, everything else is off. Inside other dynamics enable both opacity and flow to pen pressure at 0%.
Now outside in the interface with the brush active, up top I set opacity and flow to 75%.
This allows for great blending, and if I need a softer touch I can just turn down the above opacity (or both opac and flow) to a lower extent.
This allows for nice blending while painting, and if you need a softer or harder edge you just fiddle with the brush tips hardness and brush spacing together.
Also, you may want to paint in black and white, and throw the color on as a seperate “color” blending layer, on top of your painting. This is easier, but less like traditional painting unless you use some long lost glazing technique. But for digital purposes, I like it better, as it’s easier and there is no quality difference in doing it in this way as there is with traditional mediums.
Dynasty929
#6
Jetta thanks for the info! yes i’ve seen many artist on youtube and here paint in grayscale and then transfer to color, and I myself also find it to be a little easier that way, Ill check the brush settings when I get home. Appreciate every tip man! thanks.
psdtalk
#8
Using tutorials is fine, but I recommend using tutorials for only the basics. The rest comes down to your creativity and your passion. Just keep practicing and practicing.
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.