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Reason posted:If I'm looking to learn to draw what are some good resources for super beginners? Like I've never drawn anything since kindergarten and now I've bought a sketchbook. Super, super beginners stuff here please. We have a thread for that which should help a bit: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3442391 A key thing to keep in mind, there are a lot of ways to learn to draw and a lot of different skills to practice. A major thing to focus on is developing your observational skills, learning to see instead of relying on symbols. That you can really only develop drawing from life so make sure that whatever you do, you at least do some of that. Household objects are fine, your hand, whatever is easy. Fill your sketchbook, buy craptons of cheap paper and just keep on drawing. A tiny bit every day is better than drawing a lot one day then nothing for two weeks. Some folks really like Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain as a starter book so you could give it a try. A community college or art center drawing or life drawing class can also be really helpful and usually not terribly expensive. Atelier programs are fantastic for building up fundamentals but are usually pretty pricey and not every city has them. But I'd just browse through the self taught thread and try out the stuff mentioned in there. What works for one person may not be the best method for another, so experiment. The important thing is to stick with it. It takes a long time to build these kinds of skills but it's definitely worth it. Good luck!
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Aug 10, 2016 11:20
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FaradayCage posted:
Honestly, pastels can be harder to use than paint. They are very sensitive to pressure and it takes a lot of finess to get a nice feathered layer down as opposed to harsh ugly streaks.Personally, I think acrylic paint would be the best option. Color pencils are close but they require a lot of layers to get dark values and it's a lot of extra work for little benefit unless you are going for a particular look. I think you'd be best off with acrylic. There is a trick for perfect clean edges with acrylic paint too. Get good painters tape (like the blue one) and matte medium. First put the tape down around the letter or whatever you are painting. If needed (like say the curve in the S) you can cut out parts of the tape with an exacto knife. Once that's done take some matte medium and paint a coat or two all the way around where the tape touches the board/canvas whatever. It's okay to liberally apply the medium just make sure its a smooth coat, it wont affect the paint or the color or anything like that. It should dry pretty quick but make sure it dries completely before you do anything else to that area. The medium is transparent but will form a barrier between the tape and your painting surface so nothing can leak under the tape. Then you paint, let dry, and remove the tape. It's as easy as that. There might be some tape that is "leak proof" but I've seen even really good tape leak so if you are a perfectionist, the medium will ensure that it will work. For the drawing, you can use pencil (acrylic will cover it up completely if you don't use transparent pigments) and a grid like you mentioned. If needed you can ask in the art store if you are unsure which paints are transparent and they should be able to help you. Use a ruler for straight edges and a french curve for curves if you need. Line everything up and get it exactly how you like before you paint. That should do it, it will be time consuming but it wont be hard to do. Just use a sturdy surface if you are gonna be cutting tape on it with an exacto knife so you don't punch through the surface, at least canvas board or something. Mind you still be careful cause you don't want to scratch up your surface even if it is sturdy but that's really the only danger. If all else fails and you mess up, you can always do another one. You don't have to show him any of the bad ones, just the one good one after all. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Aug 28, 2016 |
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Aug 28, 2016 03:13
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Defenestration posted:I have done some hobby level acrylic painting and I want to set up a space in my apartment to do more. The problem is that between living in a 1 bed that I'm using as a 2 bed to make Boston rent, and having a very curious kitty, the best place to do this is in my basement. I cant comment on the moldiness of boston basements but if you don't have access to any natural light at all, make sure your work area is always well lit. A cheapo lamp or two (they got nice inexpensive directional ones at places like IKEA) can help a ton.
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Oct 11, 2016 08:43
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goodness posted:I recently commissioned a canvas painting and I have a question regarding etiquette. If he shows me the final piece and I think it needs more, touching up or it just doesn't impress me, is it ok to ask to change/add something? Or would that be a dick move since the artist felt it was complete. Often, artists will have a policy on the number of revisions they'll accept. Usually though, its fine to request changes within reason. If you do want changes, make your requests as specific and crystal clear as possible. Also be prompt in getting back to the artist and don't do something like wait weeks after the piece is done or whatever to say something.
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Nov 24, 2016 05:06
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Queen Gnome posted:Copic Markers Question It would help if we knew what kind of color schemes she likes to use in her art cause artists often end up favoring certain colors more than others in their work. That said, what might be a good way to approach this is to look at her work and see what colors are in her work that she does not have expensive markers for. If you need help you could ask any art friends that you have, or the people in the art store (if they happen to have knowledgeable staff which isn't always the case) or even show us some pieces and ask in the thread. If we are just going by colors in the color wheel that aren't in the picture, you might look at getting her: a green, a yellow green, an orange, a yellow orange, and a red violet. Maybe also get a more saturated yellow too. But say if she happens to really love palettes based around blues, it might be better to just get her a lot of blues and purples of varying values instead. For instance you could get her a lighter teal, some dark blues, maybe a couple of different purples, etc. Cause its one thing to notice there isn't really any greens there except the one blue green, but if she doesn't have them because she doesn't use them then there is no point in getting her a bunch of greens. If you are really unsure though, a gift card for the closest real art store (Dick Blick, Utrecht, Jerry's, etc) could also be an option so that she'd be able to choose the colors she needed herself. I know that's less fun but it would ensure that she gets exactly what she needs. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Dec 12, 2016 |
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Dec 12, 2016 08:57
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goodness posted:It looks like a bucket of gesso is $5-10, not too bad. I have a couple small canvases I picked up from Michaels for 1/2 off. Also take a look at canvas panels. That tends to be cheaper than a normal canvas and are often in variety packs so if you buy a set with one of the 30-40% coupons they have (or during a good sale) you can get quite a lot of them pretty cheaply. Another budget option would be to get some bristol board which holds up just fine with acrylics. You can buy the strathmore brand (any brand should do) for less than a dollar a sheet. Then you just need to buy a corrugated plastic board (art stores usually sell these too but you may need them to cut it if it's too big) and some blue painter's tape to attach your bristol to the plastic.(if you tape it down on all four sides then you'll have a nice clean white edge when you remove the tape too). That'll give you a good portable surface to paint on that you can lean on a chair or whatever. One thing to watch out for with acrylics is that they dry really fast and having the paint dry on your brushes is a pretty quick way to wreck them. So just make sure to always have water nearby and clean the brushes well when you are done. Dish soap like dial works fine don't need any specialty stuff. Even meh brushes will last a while if you do the bare minimum in maintaining them. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Dec 15, 2016 |
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Dec 15, 2016 03:38
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goodness posted:If I plan on doing oils eventually should I start with that? That would be better for learning color/blending since they don't dry as fast It's up to you and your budget. It would definitely cost less money to get started with acrylics than it would with oil. You also don't have to deal with paint thinners, room ventilation, stuff taking forever to dry if you are doing glazing, the fact that everything you use is really flammable, etc. However if your end goal is oils, then it's not a bad idea to start with them since painting with them is a very different experience. Oils are pretty nice and my personal favorite so I am a bit biased. The only caveat is if you haven't done either you may not know which one you'll enjoy more. You might end up liking acrylics more than oils so it's worth to do a little of both if you can before you heavily invest in one or the other. If for now you just want to slow down drying time, you can use a slow-drying medium with your acrylics. That stuff is not terribly cheap but a little bit of it can go a long way. There is also stuff like Golden's open acrylic line which take much longer to dry than normal acrylics. You can also try misting your palette to keep your paints moist and sometimes the stay-wet palletes they have at the art store do a pretty good job of keeping paints wet a long time. So there's several options for making that work. Also if you do go oil, keep what Ferrule said in mind. If you come up with any custom painting surfaces, you will need to gesso it (multiple coats) before you can paint on it. Oil is far more picky about surface treatment than acrylic is. It will crack or even fall off the surface if it hasn't been prepared correctly. Ideally, you'll also want an easel and have a set up that is not in the same place you eat or sleep for health reasons if you can. You can get by without an easel with acrylic but you'll really need it with oils. You can build your own out of some wood or maybe re-purpose a chair, but you'll need something. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 10:08 on Dec 15, 2016 |
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Dec 15, 2016 10:05
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To add to that, if you don't care to learn how to draw then you could just print the reference out, put some tracing paper on it(or any transparent paper assuming you dont have a lightbox) and just trace the thing out. That would be even easier than using a grid. You won't learn much doing that but you'll get a drawing out of it if that's all you need. If you are doing it to learn though, definitely follow Argue's advice.
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Dec 26, 2016 07:59
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rear end posted:You know, reading this made me realize that what actually bugs me is "never being able to be as good as those who started early," as if my skills will hit a peak and then plateau from there on. Which, I'm assuming, can be overcome if you work hard enough. If you can yell at me so that my stupid brain snaps out of it I'd appreciate it! There are people out there who at age 11 will produce work that rivals or even surpasses (in terms of technical skill) people who've also started early and done it their whole lives. There is a lot of individual variation and I'd think that would outweigh any general lessening of plasticity with age. There is a lot we don't know about the brain and it's limits so I'd consider any studies saying something super definite about absolute limits with a grain of salt. But the fact is there are many artists who started really late, like Van Gogh and Hopper and are now considered to be very good. Also I'd be wary of any historical studies saying that 30 is a peak age when a lot of the old masters (not all though) died pretty young. A lot of art materials are super toxic, and artists don't always have the best living conditions to begin with considering the volatility of the career (or their personalities if you are talking about someone like Caravaggio). But long and short of it, drawing is absolutely a practiced skill with fundamentals you can learn and develop with time if you put enough energy into it. Consistent and good practice is key. If you want it, go for it. Don't worry about whether or not you have a capacity, it's a useless question because you are already you, unless you can suddenly become someone else why even worry about it? If you need a justification to justify it, here is one. You are the only person with your set of experiences, background, taste, etc. You are going to produce work that's different from anyone else (even if you just try to slavishly copy one artist, it wont be the same but don't do that btw). So only you can create the kind of work you are going to make and there is likely someone out there who will be really interested in that. So don't compare yourself to others, just learn and grow as best you can. Create the art that only you can create.
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Jan 16, 2017 21:18
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kedo posted:
Yeah that is a very good point. Some people are extremely technically proficient but their work is so goddamn boring that it's a complete and total waste. Being able to create compelling work with the tools you have, is more important than just possessing a particular tool.
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Jan 16, 2017 21:29
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Jay W. Friks posted:Looking around the forum for a thread that a not so smart guy could understand for posting prose in Creative Convention. Formatting is something I've done in college papers but not on forums on the internet. Any advice? There's a fiction farm thread for short stories, rules of the thread are in the first post: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3798783 For longer ones you'll have to make your own thread but it's less likely someone will read it. If you've done critiques for others though that''ll help get people to read larger work. Also if you are interested in fiction, you should check out Thunderdome. It's a weekly story competition with prompts and super harsh but accurate judging. If you participate you'll be guaranteed critiques though. That is here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3803906 JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Jan 18, 2017 |
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Jan 18, 2017 05:33
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M42 posted:Hi! After a very long hiatus from art, I'm looking to get back into it. Huion probably makes the cheapest but still half way decent tablet. Just make sure you check the reviews on any individual tablet before you buy it, as quality sometimes varies wildly between product lines.
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Jan 27, 2017 11:34
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Internet Kraken posted:So is there like, some gold standard for what program most tablet artists use? I've been using Corel Painter since it came with my Wacom tablet but I'm getting kind of frustrated with how glitchy it is and the lack of some basic features that even MS Paint has. I've got some cash to spare right now so I figured I might get another program better suited for general purpose drawing, but I have no idea what most people use. Photoshop is still the industry standard but I'd say clip studio (also known as Manga Studio) is the best bang for your buck program and some people do enjoy painting in it more than PS (it does feel pretty nice). So if you don't need PS for a particular feature then I'd say give Clip/Manga Studio a try. Just get the regular version (that's Pro, not Ex) and if you want wait for a sale/coupon you can get it for around 20-30 bucks.
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Jan 31, 2017 04:23
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dupersaurus posted:Anyone with experience with tattoo design? A friend asked me to make a design for him, and while the image part is easy, I don't know to handle the text he wants. Do I need to consider freehand-ability with the font, or do I let the tattoo guy chose his font, and just supply size and position guides? Text is something any reasonably talented tattoo artist will be able to do easily, even if it's a very intricate font. Many artists create stencils and then transfer them to the skin before tattooing, so they don't have to free-hand the font, though some could if they wanted. That said it's usually better to let a tattoo artist come up with the design than to just give them something to copy. The reason for that is because art that looks good on paper doesn't always make for good tattoos. Skin is a weird surface, and the body has forms that flow in certain ways and the design of a tattoo needs to accommodate that in order to fit the body well. Beyond that, there are many other considerations that are unique to tattooing so the tattoo artist really needs to be part of the design process if you want a good tattoo that not only looks good right after you get, but will also age well and not look like unreadable garbage after 2-3 years. I think what would work best, is to create a design that shows the essence of what your friend wants, but have them ask the tattoo artist to create their own design based on what you've done. Just ask the tattoo artist for a sketch of a design they think will work, then your friend can use that to see if they'd want to go forward with it or not. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 13, 2017 15:58
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JD posted:I was hoping to solicit some help with a logo from an artist goon, but I'm not sure where to ask! If you want an artist to make a logo for you: There is a work for hire/freelance thread right here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3527487 (Read the first post first before posting) If you are making it yourself but want advice or a critique, then either post the work in progress or ask a specific question that someone will be able to give you an answer for. You can do that in this thread if you want.
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Mar 20, 2017 22:17
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dupersaurus posted:I'd say make sure you're not pressing down too hard and you're not straying too far from the direction the nib wants to go. Might be the paper, the smoother the better. Yeah seconding this. A bad feeling from using the nib definitely means that something is off. Pressure, direction and angle of the nib are really important and you can break a nib by going against the grain so to speak. Look for some online tutorials and experiment with it and see if you can get it to feel better. Also not sure what nibs you are using since you say they are beginning nibs but decent quality nibs are really cheap. So I'd go ahead and get something like a few 102 crow quill nibs from Speedball and maybe a 512 nib as well for beefier lines. Avoid boxed sets, as they are overpriced. Crow quills you can get for about a dollar, 512s you can get for about 2 dollars and both nibs are professional quality. Either order online or you can go to your local art store and ask if they sell individual nibs, the ones around here do so hopefully it's the same where you live. If you think paper is a problem and are on a budget you can buy something like HammerMill's Color Copy Digital Paper at an office store. It's a bit heftier than regular printing paper and is extremely smooth, so it's a really nice budget option. (under 20 dollars for 500 sheets). If you want to spend a little more, getting some smooth bristol board would be ideal. Bristol is great to ink on but definitely more expensive.
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Apr 30, 2017 11:46
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Franchescanado posted:What do I need to know for purchasing and painting on wood panels? I use acrylics. You could probably find cheaper wood at the hardware store to paint on. Or maybe one of those wood supply shops, there are a few around here that have nice sales on panels every now and then. You'll probably want it decently thick, sometimes thin panels can warp especially if you live in a high humidity kind of place. Painting acrylic on wood is pretty straight forward. You don't have to worry about the paint not adhering to or degrading the wood and you don't even need to prime if you don't want to. Gesso is pretty much white acrylic anyways. If you don't prime, the wood will suck up some paint but it's nothing additional layers won't fix. Though if you want you could prime with a layer of a single color and then work on that to make sure you have good coverage. That's a good idea if you don't want the wood grain to peek through in areas (but some people love that effect). Also if the wood has any defects (like depressions) you might try to cover those up by gesso'ing and sanding the entire panel down a few times. That can be very time consuming though be warned. Though if you don't care about the defects or you buy a piece of wood that is perfectly smooth then you don't have to worry about that at all. Nice thing about expensive "art panels" from craft stores is usually they'll be pretty smooth and thick but they will overcharge you by a lot for that. But long story short, unlike oil paint, there aren't really many special considerations for acrylic on wood. So experiment and have fun with it. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 00:05 on May 20, 2017 |
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May 20, 2017 00:03
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gmc9987 posted:I'm even MORE amazed that Illustrator doesn't track the rotation of objects inherently - seems like with an object-based vector program it would be super easy to remember the rotation of a shape. Yeah that makes no sense. To do this they'd only need a single int per object to store it. Hell they don't even need a 32 or 64 bit one, they could use a 16 bit int. That's a minuscule amount of memory. It's a mystery.
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Jul 13, 2017 11:08
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Strotski posted:
Those latter two links are very useful as a boot camp, but keep in mind that's what they are, a boot camp. If you do decide to go into a regimented system like that, make sure to take some time to draw for fun too every now and then. You can burn out if everything is a drill/exercise, though those are certainly important for fast growth. Imo, if you want fun and fast, your best bet is to find a local life drawing class. You'll be with people learning like you are, and you'll get to practice drawing from an actual living breathing model with an instructor who will be able to give you advice and encouragement. Community Colleges and local art centers tend to offer these for relatively reasonable prices. Then if you supplement this with online classes based on construction techniques (which is a very different sort of thing!) like drawabox, Proko, etc, you'll have a great combination. That said, I think studying construction without also studying observational drawing is a mistake, so don't just jump right into construction techniques without learning how to see first. And learning how to see is best done with life study, even if it's just drawing yourself in a mirror, an old shoe, whatever. Though I think a life drawing studio where you can draw with a bunch of friendly people and get immediate feedback, is still the most fun way to get started. Provided you have the funds and time for it of course.
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Aug 12, 2017 21:26
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Jake Snake posted:I would like to get into oil painting. Can anyone recommend good cheaper or "student" brands of oil paint? I was thinking of getting this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-studio-oil-colors/ Thirding the parts about thinner. You can use them outside with the jars if you are worried about fumes but mineral spirits are pretty much the best tool for cleaning brushes. Also keep in mind that spirits are extremely flammable so make sure you store it safely, same with any turp soaked rags you might have! Thinning your paints is not required (many artists paint with no mediums) but you still have to clean and maintain your brushes if you want them to last at all. Also while you'll still want to use the turp or odorless mineral spirits first, you can clean your brushes the rest of the way with something like Murphy's Wood Soap afterwards. Together, using both of them like that will keep your brushes in great shape. My favorite brands for paint are Winsor Newton, and Gamblin. Utretch store brand is probably the best store brand that I know of (they don't use as much filler as other store brands), but still make sure you buy their artist grade, not their student grade. If you want to save money but still have a good set of paints to work with you'll have to do a bit of research so you know which colors you have to spend money on. For instance, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna are pigments made from clay/dirt and will be cheap in general. Buying student grade wont necessarily hurt you here. However if you want a really drat good opaque red, you pretty much need a true cad red which you'll only find in artist grade paints. If you see anything called "Cadimum Red Hue" the hue means its a knock off made by a blend of other pigments that they did to try to get close to the original color but with cheaper pigments. So you add the fact that it's already a blend and add in a bunch of fillers (which is what they do to lower the price of student grade paints) you aren't going to get a paint that will react the right way. Like out of the tube it might look okay but once you start mixing other paints to it, it won't quite mix as nice and often will look kinda lifeless. Painting is a hard craft to learn as it is, it's even harder with subpar materials. Having a few good rich colors and making good use of those will go a long way, then you can have colors like yellow ochre, burnt sienna, umber, etc be your workhorse colors since they are cheaper and you can afford to use more of them. (Artists used to often work this way, building up an under-painting with cheap colors then glazing over with expensive colors to finish) You can get a Cadmium Yellow and a Cadmium Red and be judicious in their use and they'll last you a long while. Also art stores often have 40% off coupons, that can help you with the cost of the more expensive pigments. You don't have to have a lot of colors to start, there is nothing wrong with a limited palette. Also beware Titanium White, it's very strong, very opaque and very cold, it annihilates other colors. Zinc/Titanium blends are a better and more balanced white and usually not that much more expensive. Oil painting is just the best, so I hope it works out for you! Good luck! JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Aug 27, 2017 |
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Aug 27, 2017 02:27
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Jake Snake posted:That's a good point I haven't considered. I'm sure that's still true with pigments containing cadmium or cobalt. With acrylics I used to just scrape the dried paint off the palette and dump it in the trash. I'm guessing oils dry slow enough where you can save the unused paint? Even if the paint crusts over, if it hasn't been too long you can break the outer layer and there'll still be fresh-ish paint underneath. But yeah oil paint will take a few days before it's too dry to use so usually you aren't in danger of your paints drying before you are done with them. For sinks, It's not just a pigment thing (watercolors use a lot of the same heavy metal pigments and I'd imagine high end acrylics are similiar though I don't use them), but oil paint has the additional risk of loving up your pipes and gumming everything up. If you've ever seen a sink in a painting classroom you'll see a sink that's been clogged more often then not despite large signs telling people to not empty paints in there. But the primary danger with anything oil paint related is definitely the fire hazard. If you have at least minimal ventilation and practice good studio habits (don't eat while oil painting, clean stuff well, etc) you aren't really at much risk of being poisoned. Turp/spirits however are extremely flammable (in fact they are so flammable they are not allowed on airplanes while oil paints themselves are "usually" considered to be okay). So make sure you are careful, do not store those materials near anything that might get hot, keep them away from flame or anything that can spark and don't accumulate tons of oil soaked rags.
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Aug 31, 2017 06:17
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daslog posted:I'm getting old.... for software Fire Alpaca has been gaining a lot of popularity lately, which is nice because it's free. Sai and Clip Studio (sometimes sold as Manga Studio but works just fine as regular painting software) are also popular and both much cheaper than photoshop. Photoshop is the industry standard but certainly not required to make great art. Fire Alpaca is a pretty good starting point though, or if there's a sale you can get clip studio for around 20 bucks. Wacom makes good tablets, Huion probably makes the best and least expensive knock offs. Though don't go by manufacturer alone, look into the reviews for the specific tablet before you purchase. Also if she does a lot of sketching/traditional and likes comics and manga, you can also get her one of these at some point: https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Pocket-Brush-Refills-GFKP3BPA/dp/B002LJRKN8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8 A lot of people have learned to ink with that brush pen and it's much beloved by comic artists. Only downside is you do have to buy refills but they aren't too expensive.
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Oct 23, 2017 15:33
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Even if you go cheap, make sure you are still buying artist grade paints. Like regular W&N is fine, but cotman's is their student grade and is really bad. Utretcht storebrand is pretty good for storebrand paint without being too expensive (high amount of pigment usually). Sennelier Artist's Watercolor isn't too bad but the tubes tend to be very small, but again avoid their student line which I believe is the Aquarelles? I haven't used a lot of those other brands you mentioned, my personal go to is Daniel Smith but they can be on the pricy side. Though with sales I've been able to get a nice set up with them over time. If you are having trouble mixing colors with watercolor I suspect that'll be because you are using student grade paint. They have too much filler, not enough pigment so you usually don't get pleasing mixtures when you mix them together. The color will fade too much and the result will just be really lifeless. You shouldn't have that issue with artist grade paint. If budget is a concern, I think it would be far better to get a few tubes of a high quality brand and then use a limited palette for your paintings, instead of getting a bunch of poor quality paints.
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Dec 10, 2017 02:46
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readingatwork posted:So as a way of getting myself to draw more I'm toying with the idea of starting a thread for fanart. It would be a bit different from typical CC threads in that it would be fairly relaxed and emphasize quantity of output and having fun over technique and critique. The basic rules would be "You have to have posted fanart before you can contribute in other ways (crits, casual chat, etc)", "No porn/fetish material", "Posting something bad is better than posting nothing at all" and "No critiques unless explicitly asked". I'm particularly curious how people feel about the last two since they kind of go against how CC normally rolls. The idea is to provide a chill place for people (particularly newer and more casual artists) to chat it up and try new/weird/stupid things without much pressure. I mean, it's fanart for gently caress's sake. We're going to generate a ton of garbage art either way so we should at least encourage people to make fun, entertaining garbage. Promoting more art threads is always cool though I wonder what this thread would provide that people wouldn't already get from posting in daily drawing and doodles. It's already a pretty relaxed and mostly critique-less atmosphere in there and people certainly post plenty of fanart in there. Though imo try it and see if the thread gains any traction? Worst that could happen is no one posts in there.
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Mar 28, 2018 08:24
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d3c0y2 posted:I'm finally considering buying photoshop rather than using Krita. The quality of life improvements/workflow improvements just seem worth it for the price. But I'm getting rather confused between packages: Its the same program, you are basically paying for the storage. I'm guessing part of the reason is the photography deal is a special deal just for lightroom and photoshop only, while the single app can get you any app like Illustrator/AfterEffects/etc. I guess they never made a separate single option for photoshop because if you want to pay them more money for the same stuff they'll gladly take it. heres a link with a comparison of the two subscriptions provided by Adobe: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/differences-photoshop-creative-cloud-photography.html Also with 2018 it now comes with the Kyle Webster brushes which are really nice. So if you do get photoshop make sure to download them. A link in the brush menu will take you right to them.
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Apr 4, 2018 04:54
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dupersaurus posted:That extra cost definitely goes into the portfolio hosting (lots of bandwidth potential) and the extra fonts (more licensing). And if you need those features then it's probably worth it, I spend about that much to host my own site, and I'm not pushing images like a visual portfolio would. If you want to pay 20 dollars, and are associated with a school at all, you can use your student e-mail to get a student/teacher license that gives you ALL apps for 20 so that's another consideration. Keep in mind they raise it after the first year ( i think to like 30 or so?) so watch for that but it's a much better deal than 20 for one app if you want to try out their stuff.
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Apr 5, 2018 05:30
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I thought we used to have an art history thread but couldn't find one. Is there somewhere I can throw some links to paintings and get a general idea of like the art movement they represent and where I might learn more about it? I feel like I know the faintest bit more than the average Joe, i.e. the faintest bit more than gently caress-all. I don't remember there being a thread for that but i'd love it if there was one, personally. That said i'd be interested in seeing these paintings, you could always put them in here and ask for now. There's a good number of people who check this thread and at least one of them is bound to know at least something about the painting/artist/etc in question.
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Jun 2, 2018 22:37
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Yeah burnt umber is useful for making nice blacks. A good blue to pair with it would be something like an ultramarine blue. Another nice combination is ultramarine blue + burnt sienna that you could try as well (there are so many combinations so just try stuff out). That said there's nothing wrong with using pure black if you decide you prefer that, many of the old masters did. You can still add some color to it or tint it out with a little white to get variation in the dark areas.
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Jun 23, 2018 21:47
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Kaedric posted:My 8 year old daughter has been drawing/painting as a hobby for a long while now, and she seems (to me) to be very good at it for her age and I wanted to support her taking it more seriously. One way would be introducing her to digital art, because I figure early exposure could be really good for her when it comes to learning it. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to do this? A lot of people love drawing on the ipad pro, it's pretty responsive and just is a really nice drawing experience. It's also very portable. I'm hoping to get one myself soon. That said there's nothing wrong with starting her off with a wacom which will be much cheaper. If you get the wacom though don't go for the small size, get something like a medium. It's nice to have a little extra working area and the smallest one can feel a little bit cramped. It's easier to make longer more expressive marks if she has more surface to work on. If she can make use of the other features of the ipad beyond just drawing then go for that, otherwise the wacom might be the better option. For software, Fire Alpaca is a popular free option, along with Mediabang Pro. Clip Studio is also very popular and if you catch it when its on sale you can get it for around 20 bucks. Any of those would make a good starting option. The Ipad pro has the procreate app which should work great for her, and later she can upgrade to clip studio on it if she wants. For tutorials, given her age , I think a good thing to do might just be to take her to places she wants to go and encourage her to draw stuff she likes there. Don't even need to bring a tablet or anything like that, just a sketchbook and a pencil is fine. Drawing from life teaches a lot but she might find more formal exercises to be too boring. Getting into the habit of just looking at real stuff and drawing helps train observational skills and is really helpful for later if she decides to focus more on art. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Jul 2, 2018 |
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Jul 2, 2018 22:46
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dupersaurus posted:ianae and a bit of a curmudgeon, but I’d just let her continue what she’s doing. Digital doesn’t teach you anything physical doesn’t, isn’t inherently better than physical, adds a layer of complexity (no 8yo needs anything close to the tools a serious drawing app provides), all for the price of being way more expensive. I agree in general on the merits of digital vs traditional but there's nothing wrong with giving her the option because she just might have more fun working digitally. For an adult interested in results first, yes traditional will get you faster gains because it lets you focus on fundamentals instead of fighting a tablet but a kid isn't going to be the same way. If you aren't in a rush to get to a certain level, its more about trying stuff out and having fun. A painting program provides a lot of tools to mess with that are pretty fun even if you have no idea how they really work. Besides, people are learning stuff earlier than they used to. There are plenty of kids out there who know their way around a painting program these days. Kids can learn a lot if just given something and encouraged to explore it at their leisure. There definitely shouldn't be any expectations regarding outcome of course, but nothing wrong with trying it.
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Jul 3, 2018 01:03
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dog nougat posted:I'd recommend against oils. She's 8 if I recall correctly. Oils are kinda toxic and need a fair bit of ventilation. Mineral spirits and turpenoids are really drat toxic. Kids aren't generally known for being the cleanest either and like to put things in their mouths like paint brushes. Even the handle. I'd say acrylics are a much safer than oils. They also tend to be cheaper. Many pigments are toxic, doesn't matter if the medium is acrylic, oil, watercolor or whatever. A heavy metal is a heavy metal no matter what you suspend it in. The risk isn't that high because its not airborne but if you want to eliminate it all together, you need to check the pigments and only buy the ones that aren't toxic. With some of the synthetics you can get decent colors that are close to the toxic ones anyways. That's true for most painting mediums. Also, you shouldn't ever be putting paint brushes in your mouth regardless of what you are painting with. Oil isn't particularly more dangerous than acrylic so long as basic safety is followed. If you are really worried about odorless mineral spirits you can clean your brushes in a different room away from the painting area. If you want to cut out solvent all together there are non-toxic brush cleaners and you can even use Dawn or Murphy's Oil Soap. You can also use a medium to thin your paint instead of spirits and there are many non-toxic options to choose from. Odorless mineral spirits are convenient but there are plenty of alternatives for contemporary painters so you are not forced to use them. Not saying you should use oils or not, just that you shouldn't be scared of them. You can absolutely use them safely and it's not that difficult to do so. That said, no matter what medium you use, it always pays to do a little research into materials and potential hazards so you can be informed and make good decisions.
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Jul 5, 2018 12:50
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avshalemon posted:
This is the best advice in the thread so far.
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Jul 6, 2018 02:33
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The Dregs posted:What are some decent brushes I can use for an oil painting class that are cheap? Or at least as cheap as I can get away with without leaving hairs all over and refusing to hold shape You can try a good bristle brush, those are stiffer, should hold well enough and will be cheaper than most soft brushes. You can use those for blocking stuff in and moving a lot of paint on the canvas. A good hog bristle brush should last you a long time and can take a good amount of abuse. You'll still need a soft smaller brush for details, so you can get a few cheap synthetics. You can save money by getting a smaller size, and just understand that the brush's life is going to be relatively limited. Even expensive sables will get worn down by oil paint and thinners over time. So using cheap synthetics will be fine. Especially since, if you are just using it for details and finishing, a small one should will still last you a while.
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Sep 5, 2019 15:24
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theHUNGERian posted:What non-digital technique was used to create this? Not sure but the vibrant colors and the shapes remind me of some of the stuff you can get with alcohol inks on yupo(plastic) paper.
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Nov 26, 2021 18:22
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For paper, you might want to try a few different kinds out to see what works well. But in general the heavier the paper the less risk you'll have of bleeding. Smooth bristol board is pretty decent for markers so you might want to give that a try. There's also a vellum variety that has more tooth but that's probably not necessary since you aren't shading with the pencils. If that's too expensive you can also try some premium printer paper like color copy digital paper. It wont be as good as bristol or other artist grade papers but it's much cheaper and still a significant jump in quality compared to regular paper. I've used them with ink and got good results. But I've not tested markers with them so I don't know if those will be heavy enough to take the marker well. Also, since you seem really concerned about exactness you might want to consider using a technical pen instead of a marker. You could get something like a rapidograph (or a comparable brand). Those pens are designed to never vary their line weights and used to be the gold standard for technical drawing before digital tools replaced them. So they might work very well for the kind of art you want to make. They are really expensive, but last a very long time if you take good care of them. The only caveat is they don't handle like other pens and you have to press them to the paper at a specific angle and pressure to get them to lay down ink. So get one and try it out first to see if you like it before you buy a whole set of them. Or you could just buy the one with the smallest tip if that's the only one you need.
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Nov 30, 2022 07:49
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Mustang posted:I'm looking to get started with oil painting but have a question in regards to paint thinner/brush cleaner. The room I will be painting in doesn't have any ventilation other than a window that I can open, is there a big difference in the use of turpentine vs lavender essence brush cleaner? Just trying to avoid breathing in a bunch of toxic fumes! If you are going to use a thinner, don't use real turpentine. That's definitely the most dangerous and toxic option. There are odorless mineral spirits which are alternatives ( brands like Turpenoid or Gamsol). Those are quite a bit safer but unfortunately there is no product out there that's 100% safe. Solvents have to be strong to do the job after all. Brush cleaners are different though, you don't need anything fancy or toxic for that. Just Dawn soap will do the job or even something like Murphy's wood soap works very well. So you don't need solvent to clean. Though at least there's a few things you can do to make yourself safer. Try not to paint in the same room you sleep in since that'll increase your exposure by a lot. And if you can keep that window open too, it'll really help. You can also use a portable fan to improve airflow too. You don't need anything super fancy. You can also keep your solvent jar closed as you work and just open it when you need to dip the brush in. And if you start to have a headache as you work then maybe take a break for a bit in a different room away from the thinner. If you take reasonable precautions you should be fairly safe with it. Also saying just in case, the biggest risk with thinners is usually that they are extremely flammable. So make sure that any thinner soaked rags or materials aren't where they might get exposed to heat or a spark. Don't have that stuff just lying around when it's not in use, etc. And last if you do get nervous about it, you can try painting without thinners. Plenty of artists don't use any medium or thinners and do just fine. Sargent for instance just used paint and nothing else. It definitely has a different feel to work that way but it is something you can do. The paint itself is safe (so long as you don't eat it) since linseed oil doesn't have any toxic fumes. So you do have some options! JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Jul 13, 2023 |
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Jul 13, 2023 02:19
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deep dish peat moss posted:Is it normal for calls for artists to essentially be just paying for a chance to possibly display your work? Generally the rule of thumb for this is that if you have to pay them upfront then that's how the venue makes their money. Instead of making their money by selling your work, which involves putting in the effort to promote you. So that's a real red flag especially if it puts you in the situation where you have to sell x amount to just break even. Like some non-profit groups could have nominal entry fees for contests but you should never pay upfront to get into a gallery. Things have changed a lot and for the worse in the arts that's true. So more predatory practices are becoming more prevalent (like that 45 application fee for a 2000 grant wtf). But you are still better off trying to build a relationship with a single gallery that will sell your work just for a cut (though it can be a pretty high cut). Since in that case they only get paid if you get paid. That's when they have the incentive to help with promotion and marketing which are the main benefits of going with something like this anyways. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Sep 29, 2023 |
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Sep 29, 2023 20:32
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Am I just out of touch and this is the way arts opportunities work these days?
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Futaba Anzu posted:just follow the same method pewdiepie did to learn drawing over a month and just copy and trace exactly the kind of stuff you want to draw and you'll most likely improve way faster than constantly detouring trying to learn all the fundamentals Tracing does teach you some stuff and is worth doing for sure. Spending a lot of time looking at drawings and how people made something is always useful. But if tracing is the only thing you do then that's all you'll ever be able to do. Which if you're fine with that then sure go for it. But if you want to be able to draw what you want when you want, you'll have to do more things in addition to just tracing. That said the one thing I do really agree with here is you should always make time to draw the things you actually want to draw. That's true no matter what method of learning you use. Some people think they need to be "ready" to do whatever but you'll probably never feel ready if you take that approach. So, If you want to draw cats, draw 100 cats. Then practice and learn stuff so you draw the next 100 even better than the first time, etc. Don't get too bogged down by learning efficiently if the process is not fun. Drawing takes a lot of time and you should enjoy the time you spend drawing. Drawabox is fine and a lot of people use it.I wouldn't take something like Vilppu's course unless you want something that's even more regimented and don't mind paying the money. But it's the techniques disney animators used to learn life drawing by and can be good if that's what you need. Maybe not the best to start with however. Listening to Vilppu talk about art on youtube and stuff is really fun though and doesn't cost anything. Community colleges and city art centers usually have art courses as well for much less, and will usually teach you how to look at stuff which is a helpful thing to learn. A lot of people like to recommend Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain as well to learn drawing from observation which is not the worst starting point. It's been around for a long time, so you can probably pick up a cheap copy from somewhere. Every way of learning has it's own limits though so you'll have to try stuff out and see what works for you.
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Apr 14, 2024 09:02
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Dr. VooDoo posted:Thanks all for the answers. I’m kinda terrified of failure so I was really worried that, as someone starting with no drawing skill at all at 34, unless I followed a correct growth of fundamentals path I’d never get any better no matter how much I tried Yeah no worries. The advantage of drawing is you can keep getting better and better even until very old age. It's not like Olympic sports or anything. Which means it's never too late to start. It just takes a little effort and figuring out how you personally learn best. Then figure out a way to do that without quitting and you'll see significant improvement before you know it. You got this.
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Apr 15, 2024 05:53
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