Foundations

[Viconia]

Hey guys, just starting up a new SB because I don't like the idea of posting in my old one after so many months... just feels like unfinished business. On the bright side, I did manage to get my hand to not hurt while I draw so I am hoping to update this SB more often than my previous one.

[Viconia]

Some warm ups, studies and doodles from today.

[Viconia]

Quick update for today and I have to say that I am really frustrated because I am freezing up when I attempt to paint detailed scenes. It seems like my brain just wants to explode when I try to paint stuff with a lot of objects in it and this... well, it really depresses me. I want to enjoy painting stuff like this, I really do, and I even get excited when I start a new picture but within the first 20 minutes or so it is as if my mind just shuts off and is like "NOPE".

[Viconia]

Some doodles from today. Can't seem to focus.

[Viconia]

Yay, CA is back! Here's some stuff I did while the site was down.

I've been painting from screencaps that have at least a moderate amount of detail in them so that I can get over my absurd fear of detailed scenes. It's going a little better but I still feel pretty crap about it... idk, guess I just have to keep practicing.

Also, I've been having the realization that I suck at conceptualizing stuff because I'm focusing too much on the technical bullshit. Can't even remember when was the last time that I drew for fun. Fuck, lol.

[Sleep.less]

Love the latest figures. Game of thrones screencap hehe.
I get that feeling of shutdown when starting detailing in a painting too. I think it's anxiety and worries like, 'what if it doesn't turn out right'. You have to learn to clear your mind of any troubles and have fun drawing.
Really good pieces you've got here.
Keep up the good work.

[Viconia]

Sleep.less - Hey, thanks a lot for stopping by. I really appreciate the kind words and I feel a lot more normal now knowing I'm not the only one who suffers from that shutdown feeling. I'll definitely try to focus on having more fun with my art. Thanks again!

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I didn't get much done today, however I did mess around in Alchemy again just to loosen up. It's strange because I have had Alchemy for a really long time but I haven't been using it much. What a fool I am - it's such a great tool to allow yourself to let go!

Also joined the SketchDaily subreddit. Today's theme was mermaids.

Finally, I have had this question for a while and I wonder why I never bothered asking or even bringing it up.... regarding Photoshop, when using normal brushes (not the blending brush) is there any way to remedy the opacity problems when overlaying brush strokes over each other? (see diagram below to see what I mean) I understand why it happens and I know that many people go to great lengths to smooth out their brush strokes in PS, but so far I seem to still have a lot of trouble with this. I am aware that I could use the mixer brush or smudge tool to deal with it, but if I wanted to stick with just regular Photoshop brushes would it all just come down to manual blending?

[Sleep.less]

I like that mermaid drawing a lot.
As far as I go with photoshop, you can't do anything about that overlap, just to manually blend it using the 'alt' key to select colors. Too bad there's no program that's a combination of Sai and Photoshop lol.

[Xcarbon]

nice stuff i like your linework and great figure studies by the way!!
lol the last pic ... to be able to blend you have to pick the colors from strips and overlapping part but it is annoying
keep up the great work!!

[Viconia]

Sleep.less & Xcarbon - Thank you both for the positive feedback! Regarding Photoshop I have to say that I am not surprised and I figured that would be the answer. I'll just have to keep practicing and hopefully I'll be able to blend better sometime in the immediate future, lol.

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I had a very busy day so I was not able to finish any pictures. Here's a WIP thumbnail painting and a VERY quick sketch for the SketchDaily subreddit. The theme was "herding". Not my best, but at least I'm drawing!

[Hair Fish]

Grate studies and sketchbook took #5 lines as reference

[Olooriel]

About that Photoshop problem, maybe this helps you (although it's pretty much what has been said already, just in the form of a video): http://enliighten.com/blog/opacity-j...-brushstrokes/

[AshGUTZ]

Your sketches are clean, flow well, I like them. I'm trying to work at loosening up, yet keeping chiseled details as you do.
I don't find the overlap an issue in Photoshop because this is how I blend my work and find colors I normally would not find. Happy accidents in digital colors, a step you can't skip in real painting so why skip in digital painting? I disliked the time efficiency when adjusting my brush but I've since learned many shortcuts that fix this. 1-10 on the keys is opacity, I don't mess with flow as much as I used to since learning this. I use a chisel 90% of the time. Then again I can't reach as rich tones as other people, or as organic feeling as other people have. Maybe my style is what makes this passable for now, I'd like to achieve a higher definition in my work like yours. Keep it up and I will be sure to follow!

[Viconia]

Hair Fish - Thank you so much!

Olooriel - Thanks! I watched the video this morning and I have to say that it did help. I thought I might have been doing something wrong this whole time so it's good to know that it's completely normal, haha.

AshGUTZ - Thank you very much. And yeah, you are right about the whole happy accidents thing, I guess I just felt like maybe I was painting incorrectly this whole time or something. Though, the whole notion of "painting incorrectly" just sounds silly to me now considering there is no right or wrong way to paint. To be honest with you, I don't really mess with the opacity settings on my brush at all. Generally I leave it at 100% though after your post I am beginning to question my ways and I think I will try messing with those settings and see what happens. Thanks again!

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Finished up that painting from yesterday. Well, I wouldn't really call this finished but it is as far as I wanted to take it.

Also did a quick face painting and monster drawing for SketchDaily.

[Viconia]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Here is some stuff I've done in the last few days.

[Izene]

Really cool stuff!
Keep em coming please!

[Betty86]

cool SB, really diggin mermaid/syren sketch keep it up!

[Xcarbon]

nice updates i like the face study from post 14.....
also nice work on the figure drawings.
it seems like myself and a lot of others like the mermaid you did on post 7 are you going to take her any further with refining or coloring?
and keep up the good work

[Viconia]

Izene - Thank you very much!
Betty86 - Thanks, glad you like it.
Xcarbon - Hey, thank you. As for the mermaid, I probably won't work on that picture any further. I enjoyed drawing it but it was a sketching exercise more than anything and lately I am trying to focus on sketching and brainstorming rather than rendering.

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Well, school started recently and I have just been feeling overwhelmed, so I am very sorry for the absence. I did get some drawings in though, so here we go!

Tried to finish up some screencap paintings but bleh, I am losing my patience. Really bad on my part, and I am going to focus on not getting so impatient when I am painting.

Finally, I also did a lot of paintchatting. Most of the sketches/paintings were done in paintchat, however some of them are really quickly created in Photoshop. I am finding paintchat to be really fun, although the tools are a bit crude so I am still getting used to them. Anyway, here's what I worked on...

[crisimikiwiki]

good stuff. recognised the sherlock and GOT screencaps immediately! i love your sketchy faces also

[Sleep.less]

Those figures turned out very good
You're improving really fast : D

[Viconia]

crisimikiwiki - Thank you for the kind words!

Sleep.less - Hey, thank you. I really appreciate it.

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Ugh, I am so sorry for not updating again haha. It seems that I don't have school fully under control just yet and on top of that I caught the flu. I'm feeling better now but I've gotta start updating more. Argh!

Here's some personal stuff I have been working on. Nothing too spectacular but at least it's something.

[kikindaface]

hey, nice sketchbook here ! i'd suggest you to be carreful on your edges, since your painting really lacks of solidity, everything looks blurry, not fitted in the ground, just try to use sharper edges in some areas ( generally where there are big contrast or in some contours ) keep it uuuup !!

[DatJerome]

Your last set of sketches are looking nice!

[Nemome]

Damn!
You're improving great, especially at your figures!
Some great gestures and line drawings.

Just watch out for your values.
A lot of times it helps to lay an saturation layer over your painting so you can able and disable the layer everytime to see your picture in greyscale.
Values are damn important.

Keep it up!

[V3T]

Cool sketchbook you got going. Your last set of sketches are really neat =]

[kevin_]

great start to this second sb, nice lines and brushstrokes! hope you start posting more frequently though :b

[Suira]

Hey! Some nice stuff, I specially liked the manga style face on light values, quite interesting really. And you can clearly tell you've got more drawing background than painting ( just like me) , and that is why you have the shutdowns thing, happends because you've gotta reinterpret everything out of your usual language (line), at least that's what happens for me. I think if you get engaged enough into the painting thing eventually you're so obsessed with getting it right , you don't realise the hours, that's what saved me lately for that, even if I the end I never quite get it right xD. I had some great feedback the other day on painting. To avoid the stuff from looking messy, force yourself to big brushes, I helps big deal, at first it's annoying but when you get used to it it gets , like necessary, it's weird . Oh! and here's and idea for the overlay effect: I use shape dynamics ( so yeah, if I don't push too hard the pencil get's a bit little but helps you get better pressure control) and the variable opacity thing too. So with a brush incorporing both functions it's easier to apply big hard edges and at the same time blend the stuff in. Hope it helps

[Viconia]

Wow, lots of replies! I really appreciate all of the feedback.

kikindaface - Thank you, and yeah I definitely agree with everything you said. Edge control really is one of my weakest points @_@;
DatJerome - Thanks a lot!
Nemome - Hey, thank you so much. I actually do the saturation layer trick but unfortunately I still suck at value, haha. It's something that I am constantly working on and I hope to see improvement over time.
V3T - Thank you very much!
kevin_ - Thanks and yeah, I'd definitely like to post more frequently too. Hehe.
Suira - Thanks for the amazing feedback and tips! I think I actually have about 50/50 experience in painting and drawing, the real issue is that I think I just enjoy drawing a lot more. I'll try to stick to larger brushes... it's so tough but I know I should be doing that more. Thanks again!

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I've been working on a lot of stuff for my portfolio but unfortunately it is all traditional and does not fit into my scanner. The only piece that I have for this update is a photo study. I tried to focus on not using such dull colors for the skin because I have a tendency to overuse gray tones.

[Sleep.less]

Wonderful study.
I'm gettin' a feeling that her neck is too long? maybe that's just me.
Oh, for future reference, when painting, try to avoid pure black and pure white alltogether, except for the light dots on eyes.