Having trouble deciding what to draw today? Be your own art director: give yourself an assignment! This exercise might seem contrived, but it's a fantastic way to break the paralyzing grip of a blank canvas. As the video shows, sometimes all you need to do is to give yourself a few limitations - and then the creativity naturally starts flowing. After all, artists are natural problem solvers --- they just need a problem to solve!
When you start a painting, how often are you using a white canvas? This video offers an alternative. There are a number of reasons for using a toned canvas, though the easiest explanation is time savings. If you're looking to create a rendered image featuring a full value scale, you might as well start in the middle. In the video I use a warm tan color, though it's worth noting that gray works just as well.
Has the brush ever behaved strangely? It is not working the way you'd expect it to? This video will help you identify some possible problem areas, and give you a checklist for the next time that your brush isn't working smoothly.
Both control the brush tool, but what's the difference? A common point of confusion about the brush tool is the functional difference between these two (similar) properties. Hopefully this video will clear up some of the confusion.
We'd all like more of it, but how should we spend our free time? It's a deceptively simple question, but I find myself asking it nearly every day. Should I spend an hour doing X or would it be better to do Y instead? What if all I want to do is Z? Though this video doesn't offer concrete answers, it will get you thinking about the bigger picture and how to stay vigilant about your goals. Blogs like www.lifehacker.com often talk about planning the hours of your workday, but I rarely see anyone discussing a longer (1,2,5 year) plans. These sort of 'big questions' are not easy to think about, but ignoring them completely can be a dangerous strategy. What is your strategy? Since I clearly don't offer a perfect solution, we'll all benefit from the discussion.
Hopefully by now you're familiar with Blending Modes. What if I told you there was a totally different way to create a texture overlay? In this video we'll explore an often overlooked feature called "Blend-If", in which the opacity of a layer is dependent on it's grayscale value. Sound confusing? Don't worry. Though this seems a bit more abstract than other painting techniques, as long as you know about grayscale values and the Histogram, you'll do just fine. Due to the technical nature of this video, I'd recommend following along in your own photoshop document. You'll need two texture images, and here are links to the two I used from cgTexture.com: the Base metal, and a Rust overlay.
Many Ctrl+Paint videos encourage using photo-texture overlays... but what photos are best to use? Utilizing textural overlays is much easier if you're working from high quality images. I like to use 'base texture photos' created by texture artists. These videogame artists use photos which seem very boring by photography standards: uniformly lit and without engaging camera angles. Though they won't win any photography contests, they serve as great raw materials for textural overlays. Google image search often doesn't return useful images for this process, so knowing where to find them is essential. In this video I talk about cgTextures.com, as well as the characteristics to look for in a good photo-overlay.
What's your relationship with still life drawing? Love it? Cherish it? Most likely, you avoid it. In this video I provide my reasons for practicing still life painting, including how it makes me a better artist overall. Many artists, especially beginners, avoid them because of their association with homework. When I was in Drawing 1 class in art school I daydreamed of painting dragons and space marines. Now that I'm out of college, I often look back with regret: those still life drawings were forming a foundation and all I wanted to do was skip past them. As you teach yourself to paint, it's easy to skip past assignments that seem boring but I encourage you to give still life drawing a chance.
Visual measuring isn't just for angles. When blocking in an observational sketch, the proportions can make or break your image. For better results, why not do a bit of visual measuring? For this technique, all you need is a pencil.
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This video takes a look at the power of Sketchup Components, and how they can speed up your design process. The upcoming Vehicle Design Start to Finish utilizes Sketchup, but due to time constraints I decided to emphasize the other aspects of the process. As a result, I want to elaborate on Components in this free video - because the system is just too cool to pass up. If you've never used Sketchup, make sure to download it today (it's free!), and start playing around!
When building a portfolio, it's easy to forget about the little stuff. If you want to be a concept artist, though, your portfolio needs to prove that you think like one. This video discusses some of the overlooked types of art you might want to include in your own portfolio before looking for a job.
I'm excited to announce my first ever "full process" series, which will be available in the store 12/21/2012. Vehicle Design Start to Finish walks you through the process I use for my own professional work. In order to cover so much material in a single hour, you'll first need to be familiar with the the basics found in my other series. But if you want to see how I apply painting and design fundamentals to my professional work, this series is where to find it. Check it out in the Ctrl+Paint store starting this Friday! And remember - Christmas is coming up... are there any artists on your shopping list?
Want to be better at painting but don't know where to start? You're not alone in this feeling. The truth is that art is inseparable from confidence, and you will not be able to create until you believe that you can. It's a tough catch-22. Hopefully this video will help!
And make sure to check out Andrew Jones' artwork, as well as Noah Bradly's Blog post for great inspiration!
The entire process of design is filled with refinement: make a variety of options (thumbnails, color palettes, etc.) - and choose the best one. What if you could automate some of that? This video shows a technique to multiply your color roughs when making a character design in order to dramatically increase the total output. It's a bit messy, but you'll save a ton of time. If you want to see a similar process with thumbnails, make sure to watch this older Ctrl+Paint video.
Illustrators often shy away from some of the more technical seeming aspects of Photoshop, but it's good to be familiar with the Histogram. This video will introduce the basics of how to use it, as well as a specific case where it comes in handy overlaying texture onto a painting. Note: In the video I fail to mention that the histogram is set to the "Luminosity" channel, not the default RGB channel. This ensures that you're measuring the value distribution, not the amount of R G and B.
Some painting tips are complex and require tons of practice, but this one is very simple: start at the back. This video talks about one approach to the painting process that works especially well for environment and outdoor scenes. Designed by traditional painters, I find that it's still quite appropriate for digital painters using photoshop.
Like anatomy? That's a start, but character comes from a deeper place than mathematical precision. The real story comes from expression. Whether it's body language or facial expressions, people are constantly communicating. If you neglect this aspect of personality when learning to draw people and characters, you might end up with 'lifeless' or 'plastic' results. This video introduces some good examples for study including my favorite: Glen Keane. Glen does not seem to have a personal website I can promote, though a quick google search will lead you to fan-collected images.
The importance of gesture drawing goes deeper than simply 'studying anatomy' or 'warming up'. In truth, it taps into a very important type of repetitive practice that improves artists of every skill level. In previous videos I've talked about the technique of gesture drawing, and in this video I'll discuss why it's worth doing in the first place.
You're familiar with the color picker, but are you using the best one? This video introduces three different ways to pick your colors in order to help you choose the one that is best for your working habits. The third party offering I mention in the video can be found here: Coolorus.
In a previous video we talked about the simple stick figure for gesture drawing. If you want to capture a little more information about the pose, my next step is usually to include a simplified head, torso, and pelvis. When abstracting the body into simple shapes, there are many methods. This one stands out, to me, because it emphasizes the twisting motion that captures heart of every pose. In the past I said that the "S-curve" of the spine is essential, and the 3 major masses are simply an extension of that idea.