Rate my first photoshop

[TheSilverKnight]

Ok I just decided to use photoshop for the first time to do something other than resize an image or cut out sprites both of which use nothing but the magic wand and changing canvis and image size.

It took me all night from about 1am to about 4 am to ink and flat color the sketch.

Origonal picture (http://www.geocities.com/nicolasparadise/Emong-v1p1.jpg)
Inked and Flat colored (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f139/TheSilverKnight/Photoshoped/Emong.gif)
Shaded so far (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f139/TheSilverKnight/Photoshoped/Emong-1.gif)

I was truely amazed at how well I did considdering I could never do this with pencil and paper.

So let me know what you think. Also I really love photoshop now.

Also any advice and Critique is welcome.

[Brickwall]

The photoshopping is great. I'm not sure the level of realism you're trying to go for shape-wise there, so I will leave that alone. Touch up the shading a bit, and it's all good.

I will have photoshop someday. Yes. Someday.

[TheSilverKnight]

Ok here is what I am calling the finised product.
Finished (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f139/TheSilverKnight/Photoshoped/Emong-2.gif)
I was going for as much raelism as possable but I am not that good of an artist or photoshopper yet.

A full critue of each step would be nice so I can learn a little bet better.

And I am gald you thought the shading was decent because I have no Idea the rules of shading I just assumed a diraction the light was coming from and then put the higs on the top and the lows on the bottom.

[TinSoldier]

I think your work is very good. You are really getting the hang of it!

[TheSilverKnight]

Question with this piece I used the pen tool to create all but a few if the lines. When I was leaning illustrator I was told not to depend on the pen tool and use the pencil and other tool. Does this apply to PS too?

[Ego Slayer]

Ah, so you've discovered the joys of PhotoShop. ^_^

Which version of PS are you using. I've got PS Elements 2.0, and PS 5.5 (which I have yet to actually use) and I only have the Brush and Pencil tool.

Anyway, doing good with the shading. I've only colored two drawings before, one of which I'm working on differently right now. I just used opaque colors over the unaltered scan, but that wasn't a good idea.:smalltongue:

[TheSilverKnight]

CS2 I really like it. Have used pervious versions to cut out sprites but thats about it.

[Medieve]

Just keep in mind that you asked for a full critique.

First, I'll cover the shading since thats sounds like what you'd like to focus on. It sounds like you sprite, which is probably where your problem comes from (And probably a problem for your sprites). A lot of people refer to this as pillow shading where you only apply shadow and highlight to the edges of your drawing. Pillow shading is a really weak "style" and does nothing for your picture. It keeps most things flat and because it only activates the edge of your drawing, it looks like one of those puffy plastic stickers you sometimes get from the dentist's office.

In the most likely case, the reason(s) why people pillow shade is:
1. You have no clear idea of where the light is coming from.
2. You don't understand how shading works.
3. You want to try to keep a "anime-cell shaded" look.

I know some people are rather sensitive when other people touch their pictures, so "blah blah blah"; "Yes, I raped your picture; but doesn't it look better!?"

http://laughy.net/medieve/assets/images/fastpics/lizardpaintover.jpg

So anyway, I took cues from your pillow shading that the light source must be directly above him. Unfortunately, teaching how to shade is massively different from teaching where to shade. When working on your pictures, its generally a good idea to work from a reference. Just google some pictures of bodybuilders (or whatever is suitable) and check back and forth if you have questions in an area.

Some shading tips:
- Lit areas are generally your most saturated colors (brightest but not necessarily meaning light colors)
- There are generally TWO sorts of shadows
= Some shadows are in areas that may be taking in ambient light (reflected light) and while are somewhat shadowed, they are not gray areas and tend to be fairly saturated still. This is where your colors get darker but no more gray. In the picture, these are the more brownish-red shadows.
= Other shadows (usually these are the darkest shadows) are dark AND more gray. These desaturated shadows are true shadows.*

* Note that these last kind of shadows are usally found in areas that are surrounded by walls that block light. In your picture, these can be found under the pectorials and in the armpits. Your neck may or may not have these shadows depending on how thick it is and how concave your chest is :)

Next is Anatomy!

Your anatomy is actually not terrible. Because this is a creature that technically can't be found in real life (And is maybe supposed to be anatomically different), you'll have to pick apart my opinions with what works and what doesn't.

Some thoughts:
- The hips are much too thin. While its true you'll find drawings of muscular guys as having a distinctive 'V' shape to their bodies, their hips do not shrink. The width of your hips is actually just the tiniest bit thinner than your shoulders (on males). What gives athletic people the 'V' shape is the size of their latissimus dorsi (lats). Your midcenter can look small but males have the same hourglass figure (though more top heavy perhaps than females). Your hips should still stay the same thickness as your shoulders.
- Your shoulders are connected to your arm. Its as simple as that. I noticed in your drawing that you have sort of secondary shoulder that comes between the bicep and the shoulder. You would have been fine with one shoulder.
- Your little line ticks look almost like they are supposed to signify the bicep and forearm muscles are off. If you know that you don't know muscles, don't try to define them. If they are veins, remove them completely. Your drawing is a line drawing that breaks down the outline of the figure, when you add lines like that, they denote an outline. If you want to draw veins, use a thinner line or a different color. You have to be consistent with what sort of information your lines are giving.

If anything is unclear or you need more information on, please feel free to ask. If I need to stop raping your pictures, please tell me to go away.

[TinSoldier]

Medieve: I'm not much of an artist, so take this with a grain of salt:

I like the original shading a bit better. Sometimes, stylistically, you still want it to look a little "cartoony". Or like you said, cel-shaded. I understand a lot of what you wrote but I think your example goes a little too far in the realism direction. The extra darkness in your shading adds "noise" to the picture.

Do you have any examples of your own work?

[Medieve]

How about I do you one better and have you check out the Draw You, Draw Me topic? (Or is that Draw Me, Draw You?) I have a picture I drew of Warlock (albeit with a photo reference).

Actually, yeah, drawing from a photo sort of defeats the idea of my own work, but post your picture so I can draw it!!!.. Here you go.

Straight pencil work: (yeah yeah, his hand is screwed up, I fixed it after scanning and I'm too lazy to rescan)
http://laughy.net/medieve/assets/images/cultist.jpg

My photoshop work:
http://laughy.net/medieve/assets/images/final_undeadviscerra.jpg

Colored photoshop (different style):
http://laughy.net/medieve/assets/images/NimInitiate.jpg

And something I made for when I lock a topic. (I moderate an art forum, nice group, but sometimes things can get out of hand)
http://laughy.net/medieve/assets/images/medi_lock.jpg

I agree with your point that maybe cell-shading would work better with his drawing style, but he mentioned he wanted to push realism. And my paintover was done in three minutes so~

Also, I'm sorry for hijacking your topic with my pictures SilverKnight :<

[Ego Slayer]

Med, that deserves a *gasp* O.O That's really spiffy.

I've got Photoshop, why can *I* do that? :smalltongue:

What is this cell-shading, you speak of?

[Medieve]

Cell-shading happens most often in TV animation shows where characters are made up of two or three shades of each color. A good example is Teen Titans or any show on Cartoon Network really. Its usually characterized by highly defined sections of shadows (no blurring of shadows).


Oh, and maybe to answer your first question, I also own a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet. Also, I'm an art student with career plans in conceptual art.

[TinSoldier]

Very nice, Medieve! I'll check out that thread (I haven't read it for awhile).

[TheSilverKnight]

Thanks for your advice I really liked how you redid my pic so it wasn't rape there was implied consent I guess. I understand most of what you said and keep it in mind especially when I try to do something more realistic.

I am no art student as you are which is ehy some of it was just confusing when trying to understand it as a whole. I got a cool piece of advice from my graphic design teacher yesterday tho when I showed her the pic. She told me to get a flashlight and take some object(similar to what you are drawing) turmn the lights out and shine the flash;ight on it and see how the shadows fall.

I am thinking about trying this one over with the advice I have gotten. Or maybe I will redraw it from scratch because there are some things I didnd like about it like the size of the head and the hips. That and I want to make the sword and spell look alot cooler.

[Medieve]

No problem, but then can I offer some follow-up advice?

What your teacher suggested is a really good idea. I would probably suggest indirect lighting, either take some white cloth and shine the flashlight through the cloth or see if you can reflect some light off of the cloth onto the object. Flashlights are designed to concentrate their light and might not give you the results you want. Setting up the light further away from the object might help too.

And on the objects, you might want to think about buying some reusable clay. I can't really suggest any brands, but sculpting the figure before you draw it might help you understand the planes a bit better before you put pencil to paper.

[Ego Slayer]

What your teacher suggested is a really good idea.
Agreed. I've drawn from black-and-white photos of something which I've lighted a certain way. It really makes it easier to learn.

[TheSilverKnight]

Thanks again for the advice. Hey, Medieve since you seem to be an art student could you sugesst any books on learning art cheap one if possible. Preferabbly in the areas of shading anatomy and any other topics you think would be usefull.

Also just a note I am buying the wacom's ceapest model tablet so hopefully it will help what I do in photoshop as I learn be more fluent and natural.

[Ego Slayer]

Though I've only done this once before it was suggested to me that I redraw well done pieces of art to get better grasps on where things should be correctly shaded.

[TheSilverKnight]

Though I've only done this once before it was suggested to me that I redraw well done pieces of art to get better grasps on where things should be correctly shaded.


Or maybe I will redraw it from scratch because there are some things I didn't like about it like the size of the head and the hips. That and I want to make the sword and spell look alot cooler.

As I already said I am probably going to do. :D

[TheSilverKnight]

Any answers to my questions about art books.

[Medieve]

Hmm? Oh. Well, I don't really believe in artbooks. I'd really just suggest you keep your eyes open to art that you enjoy. Ego Slayer has the right idea about copying some art. Of course, these are strictly for practice and shouldn't be shown :d

[The Orange Zergling]

http://laughy.net/medieve/assets/images/medi_lock.jpg

Why do I get the feeling some people purposely do stuff to get their thread locked so they can see that? It's awsome...

[TheSilverKnight]

^^ I bet. like pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n pr0n

hehe I could have typed bad words in L337 because the filters won't pick them up but I don't feel like getting banned I like these forums :D