TENTATIVE Sketchbook of eyrebrush

#61

Ack! The last thing I want to do is cause you ergonomic pain, Ronnie. Whenever you experience discomfort, definitely take a break, stop for days or weeks if things bother you. Sitting in the wrong way or spending too much time at the computer can cause problems if you’re not careful, and I certainly don’t want that to happen to you.

#62

Hi, batte812, and thank you.
I’m not sure I can continue with the portrait of the little girl using that style of brush; can’t find it in the full version of Painter. I might have to start afresh using these new bristle brushes.
Ronnie.

#63

Hi, Rebecca. Thanks for your concern. I took two co-codamol tablets as I got into bed last night, and as soon as my head was supported by the pillows I was much more comfortable. This morning. I’m thankfull that it is considerably better - more mobile. I don’t think it’s sitting at the computer that brings it on. I’ve had problems with my neck now for many many years. The doctor tells me I have some artritis in this area as well as in my lower spine and knees. These bad spells flare up from time to time.
Will be having some more practice with the oil painting brushes today, hopefully.
God bless,
Ronnie.

#64

As I am more confident painting landscapes, I thought I would try one, as a means of getting used to handling Painters’ brushes and blending tools. Eventually I’ll graduate to figures and portraits, hopefully. Started this yesterday. Will try to develop it more today:

#65

Wow, Ronnie, that is impressive work, you’re really ripping it up! There’s a great thread here with some tremendous landscape work toward the back in which I think you will be interested:
Demo’s from some Idiot: Step by Steps, PSDs and Videos - Nudity - Constant Updates!
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=433174

Keep up the great work, if anyone has taken to water like a frog, I think it’s you. :slight_smile:

#66

Thanks, Rebecca. I’ll look those up!
I have plans for this landscape that I’m doing! During my years of Walking in the English Lake District I’ve often watched the odd raven or two effortlessly floating about high in the air over the valley, while having my sandwiches on the mountain side. I’ve always wished I could do the same! LOL. (In my dreams!) Heh heh. I’ve had this notion to inlude myself - from one of my poses - in this picture, frolicking in the air with a pair of wings! Hehe. Watch this space!

I’ve done some more work on the scene, including widening it:

#67

wow…

just wondering… did you do the grass in the front right with a custom brush or did you paint it one by one?

you know you really make me want to do a landscape myself as I’ve never done this before but been wanting too…

#68

HEY…Ronnie…:applause: :thumbsup:

TAKE CARE
Glenn

#69

Hi, Johan. I couldn’t find a suitable custom brush in Painter to do this job to my satisfaction, so I chose the ‘clumpy brush’ and took it down to a very small size, then ‘drew’ each blade of grass, trying to group them together a bit to make it look tufty. I used that brush a bit larger, first with a darker colour to block in the ‘interior’ of the grass, then over painted. It WAS a bit time consuming (about an hour and a half). I think it is worth going to this trouble in the foreground.
Here is a painting from my website showing this technique. It was done with the traditional Canvass the oil paints. It’s a large painting: 36 X 27 inches:

#70

Hey Ron!! Its a great thread you are putting up here! keep going!:bounce:

#71

Thanks for elaborating on this Ron.
I agree that even though it’s a lot more time consuming than using custom brushes, it pays off when it’s in the front…

Thanks again :slight_smile:

#72

Ronnie, that is a beautiful painting. I have a feeling you will be kicking out digital beauties in no time. :slight_smile:

#73

Thanks, Rebecca. Don’t hold your breath though, at least not yet (LOL). I’m still feeling very frustrated with the brushes at my disposal in this digital software. Finding it SO difficult to mix exactly the right tint and tone, and finding the best brush effect to respond to my needs. My main problem is handling DETAIL! When I take the chosen brush down to a suitable size for this I have great difficulty making a mark on the screen! Maybe I can solve this problem by working with a much larger canvass, and then reducing the work down to transmittable size when finished? I am striving for that wonderful loose style of Zhuzhu, who’s talent I admire so much. I am so ingrained with my training at art school, that to achieve a sense of space and depth in a painting one has to have regard to three things:

Linear perspective, where things appear larger in the foreground than in the distance,
Areal perspective, where things appear lighter and bluer the further away they are,
and the fact that foreground features should reveal more detail.

I ALWAYS tend to get bogged down with detail, using a tiny brush. WISH I had the ability to ‘open up’ and make detailed statements with such economy of line and brush stroke, in the way of Zhuzhu’s work! I admire his work so much! I have saved some of his work with the intention for printing some of it out, to serve as a reference while using these digital brushes. Is this in order, do you think? They say that immitation is the best way to learn. I’m wondering if Zhuzhu would mind?

Ronnie.

#74

Try some natural media app, like Painter. Play with watercolor, oil, charcoal. You’ll love these brushes.

#75

Wow that’s a beautiful oil painting! And the one you’re donig in painter is coming along really nicely, can’t wait to see it finished :slight_smile:

#76

Lovely landscapes, the oil is particularly nice.

Ron: Working on a very large canvas, and then scaling it down is a very common workflow digitally. When intending a web version of 1024 I would not blink at working at 2048, or much higher. On the last thing I tried to paint I; roughed in at 1000 high (broad strokes sketch and tone), then took it to 5000 high, detailed it, and now can save it out to whatever resolution I care too.

Getting used to the brushes is probably going to take awhile, but some of the features that don’t have a real world analog (outside of the darkroom anyway) should be a lot of fun for you. The multiply / overlay / soft light / etc layer types all open up a lot of options when you are playing with light in a piece. Really it’s just a question of enormous patience as things slowly start to become expected… reaching for a piece of conte and getting the digital equivalent is a little weird for a long time (but the undo button is always welcome ;)).

#77

Thank you, Kary. I will go large. I have not discovered, as yet, though, how to increase in size, using Painter. As long as I save my work as JPGs I can bring them up in Coral Photo Paint. There, I have the facility of resampling up or down, placing my work on a larger canvass in order to extend my picture - as I’ve done with this landscape, and COMPRESSING work for transmission.

I obviously have a lot to learn with Painter; I haven’t delved into layering at all yet. Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Ronnie.

#78

I’m afraid I’ve not had time to do much in the way of painting for the last few days; had sooooo much to do! Another of my hobbies is bookbinding! Just been rebuilding a hymn book for a local priest :). STILL got two more jobs to do also for our parish priest! :scream:. No rest for the wicked! LOL.

I’ve also been waiting for well over a week now for the full version of Coral Painter X to arrive - special delivery! It arrived today! HIPPEEEEE! :bounce: It’s now installed, and I’ve spent much of the day studying the hand book! It’s going to take me a month of Sundays to get familiar with the whole program! I’ve started to have a go at a portrait, and in order to get used to the techniques involved I’ve taken the liberty to study one of Zhuzhu’s portraits! I hope he doesn’t mind. He is my idol at the moment! He is SO talented; I love his technique. They say that the best way to learn is to copy the masters! It remains to be seen if I succeed!
Here is the work of Zhuzhu, followed by my first rough-out:

#79

How exciting Ronnie, congratulations! Very cool news, I am sure you are in for a lot of fun. Happy Painting! :slight_smile:

#80

Thank you, Rebecca.
I had another half hour or so on this portrait early this morning. Quite a bit to do yet, as you can see, to get more of a likeness. HOPE to get back to it later today. Might try a dry palette knife to work some of the colours together.