Blaise - Update March 29 Boba Fett

[Blaise]

Hi Everyone,

This forum has inspired me to finally try some digital painting. I'm fairly new to working with Photoshop so hopefully this sketchbook will be a way for me to track my progress (or my dismal failure) as well as gain some valuable advice from all of the amazing artists here.

So - here's the first attempt, starting from nothing and using a round brush with low opacity to see how this blending thing works:



Spent a LOT more time on this one, rendering it in black and white before laying the color on top. Here it is - the obligatory Batman sketch:



This one is from ref, still using the same brush:



Scanned in some old sketchbook pages to practice painting over. This time I've used a different brush with opacity set to pressure:



Another one done from reference, trying the new brush again.


Crits will be very appreciated. I'm still finding my way and hope to update this fairly regularly. Thanks for looking!

[Blaise]

Just time for a quick one today.

[Blaise]

I'm going to post every attempt in order as I go, good or bad. Here's today's effort:

[Blaise]

Update of yesterday's sketch.

[Gilead]

Great looking stuff. I don't know anything about photoshop. You must have done traditional painting before you started this?

[Blaise]

Thanks Gilead. Actually, %99 of the work I've done has been black and white. I've probably done about 20 paintings (traditional) using acrylics, oils, and alkyds - trying to find a medium I liked. The results were typically the same - the paintings tend to be sort of flat and the color gets muddy. That's one thing I'm loving about painting digitally; the ability to adjust contrast, saturation, etc... as you go (not to mention undoing mistakes). If you can get hold of Photoshop I recommend giving it a try.

[Pesmerga]

Dude, your stuff is awesome! Can't believe you're just a beginner at this.

Your demon looks great by the way. Are you gonna leave it this way? Can't wait to see more

[seansea]

Blaise:

I really love your shading techniques. I've just started digital painting as well and I haven't done traditional painting since childhood (a damn shame I know). Your paintings have a strong sense of volume. I'll be checkin' back to see your progress.

Seansea

[Blaise]

Pesmerga: Thanks. I think I'll leave the demon for now. I want to keep moving on and trying new stuff.

seansea: You and I sound a lot alike. I should have been painting much more over the past 2 decades.

Here's another from the sketchbook. Basically they are quick studies with no shading, so I'm using the opportunity to practice painting over them. The drawings are from life (years ago), but the lighting is all from my head (which should be obvious if you look at her neck!).

[Blaise]

Today's sketch. No ref. The proportions may be a bit off.

[Blaise]

Okay, this one has some real anatomy problems, probably because I didn't start with sketch first. I was only going to do a loose value/color sketch but ended up taking it a bit further, hoping to fix the anatomy as I went along. Oh well, it is what it is.

[LoTekK]

Wow, really nice values you've got going, in particular the Batman piece, the pirate, and the one where you colored up your sketchbook page. Great stuff, especially since you're only just starting out with digital.

[InkChick31]

Your brushwork is very impressive. Is it coustom? You've also done a great job in choosing colors and not letting your work look messy...

[Blaise]

LoTekK - Thanks. I'm heading over to check out your book now.

InkChick31 - Thanks. It's a standard brush with the opacity set to pressure. I've been using it since the sketchbook page up top and it seems to work really well. I tried it after reading this thread. I should probably start experimenting with some other brushes as well.

[mentler]

Nice things happening here!

[Blaise]

Playing with Layer modes to get some different skin tones...and what the hell, even though it's a little lopsided I'm gonna use it as an avatar.

[asoir]

Update's very strong, you're on your way to doing VERY good, not saying that this isn't already fantastic though.

[tensai]

good digipaints on this last page man. they look quite solid and 3d to me.

[Blaise]

Problems with the legs...might redo them later.

[Blaise]

Sorry, not much of an update. Haven't had time to practice painting this week. Just tightened up some details from the last sketch.

[redehlert]

hey there! nice sb - figures are lookin' good and i like seein' the texture usage right off the bat. the last one and the girl with the long flowing hair are my favs.
heh heh....when i first started using photoshop and the wacom tablet/stylus i was so confused. (this was back in '96)...i would hold the stylus above the tablet, not right on it and wonder why it wasn't working all the time. duh.
cheers!
d

[Blaise]

Redehlert - thanks for dropping by. Thanks for the help in the photoshop section as well. Now I just have to get used to the new setup.

New sketch-

[Blaise]

Too busy to paint this past week, but finally found time to do a couple of soldiers (both from ref).





Thanks for looking!

[Gameonaut]

very nice, seems you have really gotten into photoshop now.

would be nice if you could show one piece as a progress step by step piece and show what brush settings you used. Would interest me.

[Blaise]

Gameonaut - I'll try to remember to save steps on my next one and post them here in the sketch book. The brush is simply the #36 brush in PS with opacity set to pressure.

[LoTekK]

Awesome. The ref'd soldiers look great. Nice forms on the guy you used for your avatar, but I can't help but think that his skin is looking kinda jaundiced. More color variation would help, I think. Unless that was the look you were going for. Love the orc/ogre dude.

[Dile_]

wow I love your soldiers!!
and your avatar really rox!
thumb up dude

[Blaise]

Thanks LoTekK and Dile. Actually, the face in my avatar was painted with normal skin tones and I was just experimenting with some layer modes on top of it. I kind of liked the greenish yellow tint in the skin playing against the bright red orange hair so I left that way. Thanks for the comments.

[Blaise]

From ref:

[stine]

wow! these firefighters are awesome! what a progress (and you had quite a high level to start from!). impressed!