First digital painting! Opinions? (Moved from Graphic Design)

[AmeeraHamood]

Hey guys ! This is my first ever digital painting on my iPad..
The app I have used is "ProCreate" its an excellent app and I would definitely recommend this

I'm still working on this though... How am I doing to far? Bare in mind, this is only my first digital work.. lol

[MrHuffer]

Don't sign something you draw unless you are: an artist, famous, have years of experience behind you, your work is or was in galleries or you work in a professional environment in the digital arts field.

[Joe Brown]

Looks to me like you're off to a great start. Keep this up and you'll see progress for sure! good job!

[Stuart DeViva]

Don't sign something you draw unless you are: an artist, famous, have years of experience behind you, your work is or was in galleries or you work in a professional environment in the digital arts field.

What? Why? What does it matter?

Don't listen to that dude. Sign away! If anything, don't sign until it's done.

As far as the piece is concerned...It's very creepy and it disturbs me.
My main advice would be: Work the entire image. Don't focus on one section of the face and add in every detail. Block in the structure of the entire face. Not just part of the face. Not only does it result in unfinished paintings. It also results in an image sometimes looking pieced together and not whole due to the fact that a certain section was painted without the relation of the rest of the piece. That's avoided by constantly working the whole image.

So, to do that, you could identify the light source and shadow area of the face. Paint all of the lit areas and shadow areas together. Then slowly paint smaller and smaller through out the entire span of the piece. In other words, paint from big shapes at first, to small shapes and details last.

[MrHuffer]

What? Why? What does it matter?

Don't listen to that dude. Sign away! If anything, don't sign until it's done.

But of course it matters. You don't sign your first "digital work", period.

Unless you're famous, or a highly skilled artist that takes on a new medium and applies his vast visual knowledge, it's bad taste. It's among the first things that should come to you as an artist, as a creative person.

"So I did this half finished piece on my ipad, I'm going to hurry up and sign it!" against "What did I learn from doing this piece? What does this express? Is it transmitting my personal views as an artist?" If yes, sign away, put it in a frame, give it a name. If it's your first sketch, what does signing it do? It identifies you? As what? It's your first digital sketch.

It would be the same as a 10 year old kid writing a 10 page "book" and signing it, giving it a name and a fake publishing house. That's great if you're a kid, it's fun, but if a random 20 year old person would do that wouldn't it be bad taste? Manuscripts, sketches, by all means, they're great, but don't sign them and pretend they're finished and "published", in the same way you don't sign with your "artist" signature your first half finished digital painting and mark it as done.

[Qitsune]

MrHuffer, I think you should shut up now, you are just trying to impose rules you pulled out of your own rear end on to other people.

AmeeraHamood, It's not bad but it's not graphic design, graphic design is logos, layouts, typesetting, things like that. You should start a sketchbook. Also, don't work from photos that were taken with a flash and don't just add black when you want to make a color darker, it makes everything muddy.

[MrHuffer]

And I think you should first tell me why "my" rules are wrong or absurd or whatever you make of it before telling me this.

[TinyBird]

And I think you should first tell me why "my" rules are wrong or absurd or whatever you make of it before telling me this.

I honestly don't get what's your problem here either, are you taking offense to the fact that the name is signed flashily, instead of discreetly? I could understand if your point would be that the large signature doesn't fit the painting artistically, but something being in bad taste isn't illegal and honestly I've seen adult artists do fake publishing companies because they just want to design say, book covers for fun or practice and make them look complete and I can't see that to be in bad taste.
Not to mention the OP seems to be more of a beginner and will learn in their own time where they feel it's appropriate to put flashy signatures, but if they're proud of their first digital painting and feel it's worth a flashy signature, they they are free to do so.
Your signature policy just comes off like you're the type of person who takes offense if people wear running sneakers while walking or fingerless driving gloves while not driving (and aren't famous runners or drivers) because they like them.

Don't sign something you draw unless you are: an artist, famous, have years of experience behind you, your work is or was in galleries or you work in a professional environment in the digital arts field.

Also just saying that if you work "in a professional environment in the digital arts field", that sometimes can be the last place where you would ever put your name to anything, so I really have no clue where you're pulling these requirements from or why you think they necessarily have anything to do with each other.

[justa]

Mr Huffer, I believe you are outvoted here. You sign a work to identify it as yours. Period.
None of my work is in galleries; I'm not famous and I'm not a professional artist. But it's mine, and I'm proud of it. So I sign it.

More to the point here, the OP asked for critique; condescension is not critique - did you have anything useful to say to help him grow?

D'Arcy

[Elwell]

Big flashy signatures on unfinished work are amateurish and tacky, but there's no "rule" against them.

[arenhaus]

But of course it matters. You don't sign your first "digital work", period. Unless you're famous, or a highly skilled artist that takes on a new medium and applies his vast visual knowledge, it's bad taste. It's among the first things that should come to you as an artist, as a creative person.

What? That's crazy.

Anyone can sign anything they make if the want to. There are no such rules as the ones you are making up here.

[arenhaus]

OP: you should pay attention to the big picture. If you just focus on detail, you'll get a lopsided result. Here you've made a very extreme case of being carried away with detail: you've got a very detailed set of teeth but a big empty hole where the jaw is supposed to be.

Your picture should, ideally, be readable as a picture at all time. If you abandon it at any moment, it might look less detailed, but it should still look cohesive. Don't leave holes.

[MrHuffer]

My intention is not condescension. If I were just starting out I would have liked someone to tell me exactly what I told AmeeraHamood, because when most people start drawing they're artistically blind and giving them some rules to think about maybe stops them a little from stumbling in the dark, and being harsh is sometimes more motivating then sickingly positive things.

By giving some clear examples of who should sign a drawing, when it's acceptable, I was trying to define (in the best way for someone untrained) the professionals from the other crowd of people. People who don't exactly know what they're doing and are just tipping their fingers in the big bowl of art and copy things without thinking about it thoroughly. Of course they can do it, but it isn't in their best interest to do it. My examples are not rules, and this whole "you can't draw, you shouldn't sign this" thing isn't made up by me. I was told about it in college and didn't put a big deal on it for years, but later it clicked by itself and it's worth sharing.

Artists should be able to "see" more than your average person, in order to filter out the inspiring things in life and express them in their own way, and they should ask themselves questions. Lots of questions. You need a ..different view of the world, compared to an accountant..or a teacher, and so on.

The first step would be opening your eyes and establish an accute sense of self critique in this field, which is *key* to developing yourself. And this, having a "good eye" doesn't apply to technical skill alone (as in these lines are squiggly or that color is off, which take time to develop) but on the abstract, the ethics or the concept part, which anyone can understand and think about and which is what I was trying to give critique on. And you need to know this to avoid starting with kitschy or stuff with bad taste, because yes, it's illegal to have bad taste in art. Bad taste doesn't even belong in the same sentence with art.

So let me rephrase my critique - it's bad taste to sign your first, full of mistakes, unfinished digital painting, done on your ipad, when you have basically zero knowledge of art. Put a big artsy signature on it too, when you don't know calligraphy or graphic design and it's twice as worst because you copy without knowing about it. I know it looks good in your head, and you think it looks just as good and comparable to other drawings you've seen. But it's in the same way when you were a kid and took pictures with a cardboard box with a Canon sticker on it and an aperture drawn on the front, and pretended to be an photographer.

You enter this new field, and you're basically just as a kid again because lack of experience, and you pretend, even convince yourself you are good at it and sign as an artist would and you show it around to everyone proud of it. It's bad taste. You have to fix that in order to evolve as an artist. Maybe in other fields it's passable but not here. No further arguments there. So let's step it up, develop a visual culture, and ask ourselves some questions about why we're doing what we're doing.

[TinyBird]

If I were just starting out I would have liked someone to tell me exactly what I told AmeeraHamood, because when most people start drawing they're artistically blind and giving them some rules to think about maybe stops them a little from stumbling in the dark, and being harsh is sometimes more motivating then sickingly positive things.

Honestly, if I were just starting out, I'd wish people would spend more time telling me how to improve the art (because that's the real issue here) instead of just telling I shouldn't sign it. You have skills, so I really don't get why "don't sign it" is all you're willing to say to the OP.

Bad taste doesn't even belong in the same sentence with art.

You do realize that taste is also a highly personal thing that varies both personally, culturally and depending on what kind of art you're doing?

[jamsession]

because yes, it's illegal to have bad taste in art. Bad taste doesn't even belong in the same sentence with art.

just for the record, bad taste, or even taste alone is a highly subjective matter. you are wading in the dangerous waters of conservatism, which, when taken to a different level, is the base for the bans imposed on artistic nudity in some cultures. ever heard of artistic freedom?

[MrHuffer]

Honestly, if I were just starting out, I'd wish people would spend more time telling me how to improve the art (because that's the real issue here) instead of just telling I shouldn't sign it. You have skills, so I really don't get why "don't sign it" is all you're willing to say to the OP.


You do realize that taste is also a highly personal thing that varies both personally, culturally and depending on what kind of art you're doing?

just for the record, bad taste, or even taste alone is a highly subjective matter. you are wading in the dangerous waters of conservatism, which, when taken to a different level, is the base for the bans imposed on artistic nudity in some cultures. ever heard of artistic freedom?

Artistic freedom is available if we're talking about art. Anything goes in art, yes. Taste in art is subjective, yes. But here we're not talking about art. Take someone off the street and have them copy a picture, call it a painting and sign it as an piece of art? That isn't art. There is no message, no technical skill, there is no anything. It's copying things without any clue about it.

No, not anyone and anything can make or be art. As an analogy, that's like saying anyone can be a surgeon, a doctor or an electrician or electronist without any training. And to pretend to be one and make a horrible, messy, non-functioning circuit board without even knowing how electric current flows and show them to your friends and be proud of it is bad. And then you meet a real electrician with 5 years of college and tell him look at my great circuit board. What about posting it on full forum or electricians calling it your finished board? No, no, no. If it isn't clear enough, this is happening here. "That's a good start" is not the right response. What feedback there is to give, but "learn the basics and don't pretend to be an electrician". If you did the same thing in a technical college you would get scoffed at and get a loow mark to set you on the right path and open your eyes, and that is what I'm trying to do here.

As a side note, this whole attitude I'm trying to express is why we get stepped on and we get the arrogance in clients demanding red and blue and more lines in our logo, because they think they know a thing about it. No, they don't. They didn't spend 5 years in college learning about it. You don't hear a patient tell a doctor he wants his spline removed through his back and make the stitches look as a butterfly. It's the same thing with the client telling you "more red in the logo". There's comparable amounts of training involved in medicine and in art, so why are we so permissive to everything in art (and design)? If that client tells you to put more red in that logo you shouldn't say yes sir and spend the next 2 hours trying to make it look good, but tell him that it simply doesn't work.

[keeptime]

You enter this new field, and you're basically just as a kid again because lack of experience, and you pretend, even convince yourself you are good at it and sign as an artist would and you show it around to everyone proud of it. It's bad taste. You have to fix that in order to evolve as an artist.

Oh, shut up. The OP is allowed to be proud of it. It's a damn good first attempt. Is no one allowed to be proud of anything until it's at a professional level? Besides, by showing it around the OP is getting the help they need to evolve as an artist.

@Ameera: I just wanted to add that I'd get rid of that background. The random brown lines and the tiles are unnecessarily distracting.

[Lhune]

Honestly MrHuffer I understand where you're coming from and there's some truth in your arguments of course. The problem is though that you didn't even tell the OP to go work on their basics; all you said was to not sign anything until they have years of experience, which is so damn vague to a beginner. In other words, your initial post just wasn't helpful. At all.

Just wanted to throw in my two cents, I think everyone's pretty much said what I was going to say about the painting itself.

[mitchdevano]

Even though the eyes are parallel to each other the right cheek bone is further down his face and so are the bags underneath his right eye. Unless he has a crazy smirk then you should ignore what I just said. I'm not very good with ears myself but I always remember someone, somewhere saying that "The tip of the ears line up with the eyebrows". Also your ears look pretty small.
Maybe this might help, maybe it wont but one tip I could throw at you is to start painting the whole face at once. Start by adding your mid tones, your shadows and highlights over the entire face instead of just painting small sections at a time. It helps with traditional painting as well.Sometimes it can be extremely difficult to reproduce the same color with identical tint/shade repeatedly for each sectioned area of the face or body. Especially if the piece takes quite some time to produce.
As far as the signature goes you are more than welcome to sign each and every piece you present to the public. However the signature is suppose to be the last thing you do to your art. Although it is pretty popular to sign a wet painting instead of waiting for it to dry because it feels more involved and inside of the painting. After the touch ups, recolors and erased lines. Unless you produce a digital illustration or some sort of graphic piece you should always sign in the medium you were working with. If it is a graphic or what have you then use a lead pencil over the printed or pressed work of art. I will add a few signature tips and links at the end of this post.
Its fairly obvious you have spent quite a bit of time and effort into your painting so far and it shows very well! The teeth are very detailed, great work. I can't wait to see the finished piece.


An artists signature is rather important and I wish more artists signed there pieces. Your artistic ability and reputation have absolutely no effect on whether you should sign your art or not. Its more about where, how and when. Keep it consistant throughout your artwork, keep it legible and keep it off WIP's. Thats about it. You can read more into it by just googling artists signatures if you like.

As far as your signature goes it is somewhat illegible and the strike through is a no-no in signature and ornamental handwriting.

This website offers some free tutorials and books on handwriting, but it can be a bit confusing to figure out where to go.
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons.php

Here is spencerian script which is a good foundation before entering ornamental. It is not necessary you learn how to write in script to produce a nice signature. Learn the letters of your name as well as the ornamental Capitals of your name.
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons_spencerian.php

In this page there is ornamental practices which range from simple strokes to bird flourishes. You may need to just browse around and read a bit in order to find out how to properly produce the signature.
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons_ornamental.php


Below are examples of Spencerian script and a Signature Which uses the First and last Initials followed by a last name. You can mix this up however and use your middle last, first middle etc etc etc initials for your name. Only the lines they very in size because in the examples and in the tutorials you are expected to use a Fine to medium flexible nib. Flexible nibs can be found that are to be used with an oblique pen holder or just a straight penholder. Finding a flexible nib on a fountain pen that doesnt break bank is actually quite difficult as usually only vintage (old ass and expensive) pens still have. The only expection to this is the noodlers flex nib pen. No affiliation or trying to sell products just trying to give as much info as I can. You can also just practice the strokes and go back over them and expand the width of the lines on your own.