First painting with Photoshop

[blueknightfox]

This is my first time using PS Elements so I know it's not a masterpiece and I know about the anatomy problems. I used what I knew about acrylics to paint this. Any tips would be helpful.

[Leonor]

Start by solving the problems you know about. It's not just anatomy, they're general figure drawing problems. I recommend Michael Hampton's book.
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing.../dp/0615272819

There's problems in value and color too. There's good stuff in the stickies in this forum you can learn from.

[Star Eater]

If you could upload a smaller version of this so we don't have to scroll the image it would be appreciated.

Other than that, I strongly suggest some life drawing. Doing figure and gesture studies will do wonders for your art.
All you need for that is a pencil and paper. Observe the interaction of light and shadow on different surfaces, which is
how we perceive 'color.' I would also start by nailing some basic shapes and understanding how to present a 3d form in
a 2d image.

Your rendering is completely wonky and flat at the moment. All of this can be fixed by having more confidence which
will stem from practice and studies.

[Sprogis7]

Okay here is the important part: Put photoshop away. Then grab some paper and a pencil (eraser optional), some good books (Vilppu is an excellent start) and draw. Take some life drawing classes, go to the mall and draw people...even if they are horrible, theyre for you, not anyone else so try not to feel self conscious. Remember, there are no shortcuts.

[Inkrabid]

Actually the anatomy isnt all that bad. The face HAS to be fixed, because it now looks like a manga character, but general body proportion is OK (left leg is probably too long thou). I think your biggest problem is your very soft brush stroke, that makes the picture lose definition and look a bit liquid. Together with the lack of highlights and deep shadow, it becomes a "weak" picture. IMO it should be more like this..

[arenhaus]

Actually the anatomy isnt all that bad. The face HAS to be fixed, because it now looks like a manga character, but general body proportion is OK (left leg is probably too long thou). I think your biggest problem is your very soft brush stroke, that makes the picture lose definition and look a bit liquid. Together with the lack of highlights and deep shadow, it becomes a "weak" picture. IMO it should be more like this..

Actually, no, the anatomy is as bad as the face. The problem isn't with anatomy, or with manga look - it's with the construction. The OP doesn't have a good grasp of the volume, and doesn't use construction drawing to help him. It's a frequent problem when a beginner wants to practice something (in this case, Photoshop painting) and all his resources go into that goal. So he neglects things like drawing and solidity and basically everything else, which - ironically - are crucial in making a good painting in the first place. This is why others were recommending that the OP ditch Photoshop and practice drawing in pencil. You can't hope to paint well without a foundation in drawing.

As for your paintover - 1) you are ignoring the half-tone areas between the falling shadows and the lights; 2) the shadow usually can't be 100% black in such lighting due to scattering from the floor; 3) the tattoo in the light cannot be as black as the shadow.

[Tony Meijer]

I fully agree with Arenhaus on this and here is my breakdown, bodypart by bodypart:

Head: Her face does not correspond to the direction of the head, the hair suggests its angled downwards while the nose and eyes suggest that the head is angled forward, towards the camera.

Neck: Does she have a neck? I get the feeling that her head is pushed down into her neck slightly... might just be me though, would be interesting to hear from anyone else who have any thoughts on it...

Torso: Draw out the spine, because I don't think it's where you think it is blueknighfox

Arms: Looks like they are about the right length in relation to the torso, they do not typically bend though, like it looks like they do in the image. Mayby studying a bit of the arms anatomy will help.

Hands: You have larger problems than the hands to deal with and they look decent enough at the moment.

Pelvis: Draw a 3d-box around the pelvis, because thats either not what you intended to draw or she have some serious medical problems.

Legs: They look a bit to short, might just be my measuring though. The upper leg specifically looks to short in relation to the lower leg.

Feet: To small, like double the length almost. No, seriously. A foot is about the length of your forearm, measure on yourself if you don't believe me.

[Inkrabid]

@ Arenhaus: Do you not see how rough my OP is ? Its meant as a guide to where shadow would fall. As for scattering from the floor; the only light source in the picture is from an angle and the scattering would bounce off the picture to the right. Besides; which floor? Which could be incredibly black for all we know..

You're right about the tattoo in the light though, but I would rather have a clear look on the tattoo than have it look correct on this one.

As for anatomy again, if you think that this is a girl in her 20's, anatomy needs some work yes, but you make it sound like the artist has been drawing a smurf, and it is not that badly done. Feet need to be bigger than here, not shown on my OP.

[Inkrabid]

A bit offtopic, but a stripper would have a more together wardrobe, like all black or all white, so if you gave her real shiny white undies and stockings, I think that would look much more 'right on'.

[blueknightfox]

Start by solving the problems you know about. It's not just anatomy, they're general figure drawing problems. I recommend Michael Hampton's book.
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing.../dp/0615272819

There's problems in value and color too. There's good stuff in the stickies in this forum you can learn from.

Sorry it took so long to respond. I got that book two days ago. Thanks.

[blueknightfox]

If you could upload a smaller version of this so we don't have to scroll the image it would be appreciated.

Other than that, I strongly suggest some life drawing. Doing figure and gesture studies will do wonders for your art.
All you need for that is a pencil and paper. Observe the interaction of light and shadow on different surfaces, which is
how we perceive 'color.' I would also start by nailing some basic shapes and understanding how to present a 3d form in
a 2d image.

Your rendering is completely wonky and flat at the moment. All of this can be fixed by having more confidence which
will stem from practice and studies.

Thanks. I've tried to resize it but it's not working. I don't know why. I followed your advice by sitting in Starbucks and sketching people as fast as I can.

[blueknightfox]

Okay here is the important part: Put photoshop away. Then grab some paper and a pencil (eraser optional), some good books (Vilppu is an excellent start) and draw. Take some life drawing classes, go to the mall and draw people...even if they are horrible, theyre for you, not anyone else so try not to feel self conscious. Remember, there are no shortcuts.

I found a table at Star Bucks and sketch as fast as I could.